Best game ever made

[starlightartist]

So, I'm a little late on this one, and there's a good chance there was a thread about this already, but I want to know your opinions on this topic.

Basically, a few months ago GameFAQs ran a user poll for its 20th anniversary to decide the collective decision on the "best game ever made". Eventually, the votes were in, and the winners of groups went through the quarter finals, then the semifinals and of course, eventually, the final. The final was between a game considered a timeless classic, a previous winner of the title from 2009 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - and the very recent smash hit indie title - Undertale.

And then Undertale won.

This created massive uproar in the GameFAQs community, and elsewhere on the internet. There's a Kotaku article about it if you need more background as to why.

Now, as you can probably tell by my current theme, I'm a massive fan of Undertale for various reasons I'm not going to go into, but I wasn't sure if it was deserving of this title when I first heard this. It was easily the best game I played in 2015, but could it really be the best game I'd ever played? The point of this thread, without rambling any more, is to ask your opinions on certain things surrounding the outcome of this poll.

• Do you personally think Undertale is deserving of this title? Why?
• Can an independent game be the best game ever made? (kinda a loaded question but some people have strong opinions on it)
• What is your personal best game ever?

As a bonus discussion point on a tangent:

• Is it fair to criticise a game based on its fandom?

 

[machomuu]

Is it fair to criticize a game based on its fandom?

No, because that's not the game. I think you could make the argument that, if a game garners, baits, or appeals to a certain fanbase intentionally then that's pretty fair, but if we're looking at something like Undertale where most of its charm is felt by gamers or simply people who game, then no, I think you can only really criticize the fanbase.

That said, if we're to look at something like Touhou Project, where the games alone aren't really the main appeal and it's what the fandom influences and creates that's generally consumed by the masses, I'd say it's...fair. Hesitantly. Because in the case of Touhou, if it's mentioned, 9/10 times the official content and the fan created content will be meshed together, to the point that Touhou has basically become that, and because the creator sometimes like to canonize fan stuff or play on it. The difference between this and Undertale is that Undertale is popular based on its game, the fandom doesn't transcend the original content in terms of popularity or prevalence, whereas the fandom of something like Touhou Project does exactly that, feeding off of the source content to breed much louder, arguably more accessible stuff.

 

[Spinosaurus]

That's not Super Metroid

Spoiler:

These "best of" gameFAQ polls are always the target of rallies. It started with Undertale's fanbase, but then the boards' uproar became known and Undertale became the common vote among people who never even played the game just to play with them. Reminder that the L block is supposedly the best video game character ever.

I personally don't think Undertale is even the best Indie of its year if we're gonna ask that question, though. (I preferred Rocket League)

 

[pkmin3033]

Any game can be a good game; it doesn't make a difference who develops it or publishes it. Indie titles can be of just as high quality as these so-called "AAA" titles with ten times their budget and the mainstream reviewers in their pockets giving them good reviews. A good game is a good game; it doesn't matter where it comes from.

Gamefaqs polls are a load of bollocks, in my opinion. They always have been, and always will be. It's a mindless popularity contest without a shred of objectivity driven by this stupid sense of fan obligation to continue to vote for the same games over and over. It's pathetic and a huge part of the reason I stay out of fandoms. I was so glad to see Undertale top Ocarina of Time, if only because of the backlash it caused. Watch all the fans whine that their precious favourite was beaten by a "nobody" was delightful to witness.

For me, personally, Undertale isn't even CLOSE to deserving the title of "best game ever" though. If it was, it would have been attractive enough for me to shelve my distaste for playing games on my laptop to pick it up. But absolutely nothing I saw made it leap out at me as a game I would ever see as anything other than slightly fun, at best. I've not played it, and I don't really WANT to play it, so of course it's not going to be a candidate for "best game ever" for me. It's not really my thing. Which is totally fine.

My personal best game ever is currently Xenoblade Chronicles. I've gone into the reasons as to why that is in other threads, so I'll not repeat myself here...for once.

Games shouldn't be criticised because of their fandoms; the two are separate issues. Granted, they directly influence one another, but a game isn't made objectively bad because it's fandom is filled with pricks, and a huge fandom doesn't necessarily mean that you'll find the game deserving of it. It's very, VERY hard to keep the two separate, especially when fandoms are well-established - I have no problem admitting that I dislike a lot of games in part because of the type of people who play them, which puts me off them no matter how open a mind I try to keep - but they are definitely separate issues.

 

[Fannie]

Do you personally think Undertale is deserving of this title? Why?
Couldn't comment on that. I have yet to play Undertale and I've deliberately avoided reading up much about it until I get around to it.

Can an independent game be the best game ever made?
I don't see why not. A lot of my favouite games are indie. How ever many people it took to make a game shouldn't be a deciding factor here. That being said, it goes both ways. A title should be no more deserving just because I can count the people behind the project on one hand. Games should be taken at face value.

What is your personal best game ever?
Bearing in mind there are many games I haven't played. Most notably N64 exclusives (I know, I call myself a gamer!?) I'd probably go with Star Wars Battlefront II.

Is it fair to criticise a game based on its fandom?
No. However, certain fandoms do sometimes make me feel ashamed to like a thing.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

Something that struck my mind when reading this was how you know how whenever you make an argument with someone, or have some kind of competition with multiple competitors, it is the generally one of the last or most recent acts/arguments that generally stick on your mind? Which makes the most sense considering its fresh in your mind you know?

I think that's the case with Undertale and this article right now. Currently, there is a huge fandom going on in with that game. Let's Players, Twitch streamers, it's the "new hot thing" that's circulating the web, just like other Internet personalities are playing games like Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, Slime Rancher, Five Nights At Freddie's, that game where you play as a dad and a baby and try to not have the baby kill themselves (I don't rememeber that games name unfortunately.) And don't get me wrong, Undertale is a unique, good game. It does something very new/unusual in a very saturated, generic, been-there-done-that market. But I think it being nominated is more as a result of the hype that's been created as of late.

It's hard to pinpoint an actual greatest game. Someone mentioned Super Metroid earlier which I agree is pretty good. Ocarina of Time is generally one game that's thrown in the mix. I personally believe that Super Mario 3 should be in the discussion. Fallout 3 is also a phenomenal piece of gaming. There's a lot of good quality games out there. But again, I think people's minds stick to the game that just came out or is extremely popular.

 

[Alfieri]

I don't have anything against Undertale. I'm just annoyingly sick of hearing about it. It's like that movie Frozen or the games Five Nights at Freddy's and Minecraft. All I know is that I'll never buy it or play it. If people like it, fine. I don't care.

Independent games can totally be the subjective winner of best game ever made. Though it's obvious that not everyone will agree on one choice. As for my personal favorite game of all time, it's Pokemon Sapphire. I don't consider it the best game ever made, nor do I consider ANY game to be the best ever made. It's a silly thing to classify something as. I love playing Pokemon Sapphire and I love the soundtrack, thus it's my personal favorite. I won't state it as a fact that it's the best because it's not.

 

[DigitalGumby]

Undertale? I think there were so many other, better options

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

Undertale? I think there were so many other, better options

What would you think are better options personally?

 

[Yukari]

Eeeh I really just think it means that it's the popular choice. I can understand people saying that it's the best game ever, buuuuut whatever the greatest game of all time is is completely and totally subjective.