The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Wins Game of the Year at The Game Awards

Gamefaqs is not taking this well.

Undoubtedly, a tough pick here. Both games deserve it.

Yes, it deserve for GOTY.

So, so glad PUBG didn't win. Although Mario and Persona 5 definitely deserved the award as well, I'm happy BOTW end up scooping it. It was worth staying up late to watch it win.

Also the Sony and PUBG fanbois are going nuts lol.

Not far enough into Odyssey to say whether or not I'll think more highly of it but regardless BOTW was an incredible experience and one of the finest I've ever had in my near 40 years of gaming.

Best game, best action /adventure, best game direction,best studio plus best strategy game with Rabbids as well as a few others. What a night for Nintendo and more than deserved.

I’m happy it won, and Eiji Aonuma just continues to impress me with his personality. I haven’t played all the other nominated games, though. Can’t really judge.

PUBG certainly is a great game, but I don't think it's Game of the Year material. Only non Nintendo game that would deserve the award is Persona 5, but Zelda is the clear winner.

We all knew it! <3

Still don't understand how botw is so highly rated. Imo it was a decent game but distinctly flawed. The fact it beat Persona 5 for GOTY is a travesty.

Well deserved.

No contest IMO.

I'm glad that Zelda won, but part of me really wanted to see Persona 5 get GOTY.

@Rika_Yoshitake I guess they just can't except the facts. Game facts that is.

Nier Automata wasn't nominated for this award so of course BOTW was going to win.

Worthy of it for sure.

BotW is magnificent and absolutely deserves the win. Easily my favorite experience of the year.

@Fooligan Nier: Automata wasn't popular enough to win either way. Same with Persona 5.

I'm glad we are in a year where we can say that every game deserved to win.........Besides PUBG, screw that unfinished buggy early access game.

Vote splitting was never going to be a thing when you have a game as good as this one.

Zelda has now won 15 GOTY awards. Let's see how much more it can win.

@AlwaysGreener I've had a polar situation, in the moment of silence I was like "omg, he's going to say persona, I've heard croud, they were loud"

FINALLY!! Nintendo, welcome to the game awards. I'm so glad Zelda won and really would've been upset if PUBG won if only because it's not a complete game yet.

Well deserved! I used to be a hardcore gamer and I dug deep into every genre. Now, I am limited to time-constraints and because I spend a lot of time abroad, I didn’t even have the chance to pick up this gen (XB1/PS4). I only have a Switch and I don’t even regret it!

I have played most Zelda games but I was never hooked by one. It was always a weird Link to me. But this time, Link is ME. The freedom is amazing! Most fun I had with a game in ages. I feel comfortable in this lively world where I am not forced to talk with everybody or bold cut-scenes pull me out. Gameplay first!

Mario was good too, but it lacked the focus on difficulty. You had to search the challenge. An expert DLC could easily fix that.

@Fooligan Nier Automata is my game of the year. The story and music alone obliterates anything else out there. Including BOTW. Congrats to Nintendo though. They won game of the year with a WiiU game.

As Beedle would say: “Yay!”

Must have been a bad year for games. BotW was good, but it wasn't fantastic.

I'd have gone with Super Mario Odyssey but can't complain about this choice. Frankly, I'm just happy something insane didn't happen like PUBG taking. No disrespect, it's fine for what it is, but there clearly wasn't as much put into it as there was the other 4 nominees.

Nice feather in the cap for Nintendo to close out a tremendous comeback year.

Better BotW than PUBG (that game‘s not even completed yet, it shouldn‘t get any awards yet) but I‘m sorry for Persona 5, my personal GOTY by quite a large mile and my favorite game of all time.

This and Mario Odyssey are two of the greatest games ever made. Although I slightly enjoyed Odyssey more (but only by a hair), I voted for BOTW because it is groundbreaking and took a huge risk that enormously paid off. It is already changing and influencing the industry and is the new golden standard going forward. For that, it definitely deserved to win.

Called it! Well deserved obviously. BotW has spoiled me so bad I stopped playing games for a while. Lost interest in Odyssey and Fire Emblem because of Zelda XD

Called it! Well deserved obviously. BotW has spoiled me so bad I stopped playing games for a while. Lost interest in Odyssey and Fire Emblem because of Zelda XD

Deserved. Nintendo are at their creative best at the moment.

Much much deserved

I personally prefer Odyssey but man they're both incredible. What an amazing year for gaming!

People do realise that the fan votes only make up about 10% of the final votes. So the fact that there's two nominees from nintendo meant close to nothing

I really think 2017 will go down as Nintendo’s greatest year. This year included perhaps their most successful system launch to date, possibly the greatest Zelda game, one of the best Mario games, the best Mario Kart game ever, handheld game of the year in Samus Returns, fantastic strategy game and big surprise Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle, the excellent Splatoon 2, the wonderful Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and a solid new-ish Pokemon release. On top of that you have their best slate of indie releases ever, and some solid 3rd party hits. You just can’t top that!

Ill just say, this on my switch profile
Botw-290 hours (normal and master mode)
Odyessy -80 hours and pretty much had enough
Enough said.

What the heck is PUBG? What is it with acronyms and the internet? Or maybe I should have phrased that last question as WiiWAatI? Because that's definitely more graceful.

Anyway, I still prefer Ocarina of Time over Breath of the Wild, that was much more groundbreaking in its time. But the transition from 2 dimensional to 3 dimensional games was such a revolution, I'm not sure there'll ever be such a dramatic change in gaming again, and hence the opportunity for revolution in games.

I kind of expected this, it was the best game in a very uninspired and lootbox ridden year of gaming

I think Mario Odyssey was more deserving personally. That game has given me an excitement unmatched by any other game and before it I had never even finished a Mario game. I still haven't completed BOTW and in part it's because I find it a bit boring. Perhaps it's because I'm not inventive enough to mess around with mechanics and what not, but the game world just feels a little empty for me. Still great win for Nintendo and to have two games nominated is a huge success. Let's hope they can keep the momentum into next year (I think they can) and this win translates to more great games and more Switch sales.

@GravyThief I had to look it up as well, had no idea.

Glad I am not one of the judges this year as their were three or four good candidates. Still expect either Zelda or Mario to win

Personally I’d pick Mario Odyssey. BotW was a fantastic game no doubt however I did feel as though after about 20 hours it’s ability to surprise sort of went away a bit, even if you hadn’t uncovered the map. From then onwards it was fun but I’m. It sure the game expanded a huge deal. Chalk that up to a poor story (when all is said and done), lack of larger dungeons and small enemy list.

Mario in the other hand has a comparable number of moons to Zelda’s Kurok Seeds but getting them for the most part is just so wildly more varied and generally more satisfying too.

What I love about BotW is the potential. I can just imagine them taking the current engine and cranking it to 11 with more enemies, larger dungeons, more engaging quests and story and more terrain. Essentially bring in Mario’s or even past Zelda’s games variety and dump that into BotWs sandbox. BotW was a great game but I think there’s a massive amount of untapped potential that Nintendo could really run with in a next instalment, especially now that they know what works.

Hmm. I love BotW, don’t get me wrong, I hope future Zelda games dive deeper into open world while fixing its flaws (larger dungeons, more enemies, more story, etc) and it’d probably be my second favorite game this year... but I really would’ve gone with Odyssey for one reason alone: BotW has a lot of downtime. Odyssey was a delight during pretty much every moment, start to finish, even to 100% it. It never felt dull. BotW was great for a couple dozen hours, but... well, it starts to reach a point where the exciting moments started to spread out. An hour of mindless exploring punctuated by 5-10 minutes of action or puzzle solving. I never got truly “bored” per se but I started to just play waiting for the next interesting bit. And I thoroughly enjoyed it but Odyssey was a game where I was sad when I finished everything because I wanted more, while BotW I had to fizzle out after completing all the shrines, memories, quests, and the final boss. I ended up not truly 100%ing it (couldn’t bring myself to find every korok seed) and by the end I just wanted to finish it already. And it’s not that I don’t like 100+ hour games, it just ended up feeling like a chore late game.

Don’t get me wrong, I want a sequel, but if I had to pick a game to have more of right now, I’d want Odyssey. And I’m a Zelda fan more than Mario, Odyssey just felt polished from start to finish. BotW I guess is more of an experience though if that makes sense, especially to have such an open world on the go. I’d rank Odyssey just above BotW.

Very well deserved. A toast to Nintendo’s success. And to more in the future.
Pretends to raise champagne glass

Well deserved. Mario Odyssey was arguably as good a game, but not quite the same step up for the series IMO. I didn't quite blow me away in quite the same fashion.

Samus takes home the handheld game award.
Mario wins two awards.
Link brings home the big one.

It's a good night to be an old-school Nintendo fan. <3

Having finished both BotW and Odyssey I'd say Zelda was the right choice, both amazing games though

I was torn between BotW and Odyssey. The former wowed me more but Odyssey was just so much fun and smiles. However I will say BotW was a revamp of the Zelda formulae, Odyssey more of an extreme polishing.

Since many are mentioning Persona 5 here, whilst I enjoy it (yet to finish) it has failed to grab me like its last 2. I played P3 and P4 from release date to ending whilst P5 I stopped around 10 hrs in and yet to return. Something about it rubbed the wrong way. The travelling around was frustrating, more limited time to do stuff (stop telling me I can't go out at night ya damn cat!), constant "stick em'ups (made all the worse that I am technically executing those pleading for their lives) and honestly so far none of the characters have grabbed me as much as in the game's predecessors.

So yeah, I really don't want to call it disappointment so far but honestly, yet to be impressed.

Great news! And congrats Nintendo!

Congratulations, Zelda!
I think I'll also go for Zelda, since I am a big Zelda fan (and I love the freedom and that you can climb anywhere). But Mario Odyssey might be equally as good. Just finished the endboss, but I only have little over 200 moons, so a looong way to go. Its a really strong 3D Mario. Only downside is the artstyle that is sometimes off (the realistic stuff is weird). Other then that, its great!

@OGGamer yep. perfect farewell for the wii u.

Zelda is great with my only real gripe being the lack of any dungeons but the trailer for the dlc looks like it may have addressed this somewhat. Mario is also amazing but just too easy, it really needed more stages like darker side of the moon but its still incredible

this type of announce --> direct release is really typical from nintendo

Picking BotW over Odyssey is pretty easy for me, actually.

Absolutely deserved, one of the best evergreen titles I've ever played. And now, to go back into its beautiful world and get that sweet motorcycle

I love them both. Honestly I'm just glad one of my two favs of this year one game of the year. WOO!

Zelda was an easy pick over Mario for me. Maybe it's b/c I'm really not a fan of Zelda games but I enjoyed this one so much, but 3D Mario games are some of my favorites do I was expecting so much more out of SMO rather than just SMG3 but minus all the fun new parts.

So they were both good games, but Zelda was a standout as I was expecting to be bored, but I couldn't put it down.

@ThanosReXXX I have a feeling the guys over at PS weren't too happy with Zelda winning.

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2017/12/site_news_push_square_forum_votes_horizon_zero_dawn_as_game_of_the_year#reply
That article was written hours before the show, not a reflection of it, but I now know what a "fanboi" is. Too bad they employee one there.

To be honest, any game other than PUBg I would have been happy to see win GOTY. But my oersonal opinion is the Zelda didnt win ENOUGH! Its the greatest game ever made in my humble opinion. Love the fact Persona 5 and Nier won awards too. Go Japan!

Much deserved? Yes. Obvious choice? No.

Well deserved. Good job Nintendo. <3

Both deserved it. My personal pick is Odyssey, but it is a hard choice.

Between Zelda and Odyssey I think Zelda was more deserving. Put 350 hours into that game in normal and Master Mode combined.

@Steelhead Don't be like that. It's not a travesty. Just because it wasn't your personal favorite game. For most of us it was the most fun we've had in a long time.

It's great to see a game in one of my favorite franchises receive this award! I don't have a Switch yet, but both Odyssey and BotW are planned to be part of my library.

@SlimeKnight Odyssey is a fun entry in the Mario series, but nowhere near the stratosphere of BotW.

BotW is easily the best game I've played in the last half decade.

Breath of the Wild for the WIN!!!!! As cool and amazing Odyssey is, Breath of the Wild was a worldwide sensation!!!!!!! People would not shut up about Breath of the Wild for months. Developers were SO impressed by it that it inspired them to go harder on their own stuff.

Now a new accolades trailer for Breath of the Wild needs to come out and add "Game of the Year" to it!!!

@gatorboi352 I think they equal in terms of quality but BOTW gets the slight advantage due to its ambition and the je ne sais quoi it possesses. They are still easily the two best in a year of so many great titles.

I still think it's a shame that NieR: Automata and Divinity Original Sin 2 were not nominated for Game of the Year, as those would be my third and fourth place picks respectively.

I get the love for Persona 5, but I thought the last third of the game was a true slog, the plot became very overreaching, some of the characters were throwaways, and the social commentary was rather heavy-handed and annoyingly obvious at times. Those things hurt it for me.

Horizon I'm still working on, but it seems to be a "jack of all trades, master of none" game. It's very good and impeccably crafted and ticks a lot of boxes but doesn't have that magic I look for in a game, although Aloy is certainly a great character I want to see more of.

Also glad that What Remains of Edith Finch won Best Narrative. I played it earlier this year and it nearly brought me to tears, it's that powerful. It's a shame it's been so overlooked this year; maybe now it will get the attention it deserves.

Well deserved. All the nominees were great but Zelda is in a league of it's own. Also, where is LUIGITORNADO? Someone tag that guy!

I don't think PUBG deserved to win over the others anyway, but I have a feeling all the people here trashing it have not actually played it and are just repeating what they read from other people who also haven't tried it.

BotW > Odyssey imo

@rjejr You only know that NOW? I kind of figured you to be smarter than that...

Personally, I think it's great for Nintendo, and the general opinion on them, although it'll probably also give the haters some more fuel for their fire. I still haven't played it, even though I could have gotten it on the Wii U, but I'll wait until I have a Switch, hopefully before the end of February.

And we know that Sony has always wanted to create a Zelda-like game, but so far has never been able to succeed in doing so, or has only come halfway in making something that's only somewhat similar, but it'll never have that special feel that only Nintendo games have, and that probably stings, also with the Push Square people...

@ThanosReXXX I blame my short term memory loss, I keep forgetting things I know. I had a tooth pulled on Monday, lots of novacaine and laughing gas. I still can't eat on 1 side of my mouth and it's really agravating. great

Last night was a great win overall for Nintendo, I don't think Wii U even got mentioned so it's all about the Switch. Now if I can remember not to go back to PS I can leave on a high note.

@rjejr Ouch, having a tooth pulled is never a great experience. Over here, no gas or Novocaine for that, just an injection in the gums with some kind of painkiller.

Nice to read that BotW kind of took you by surprise. I personally have it on my "to play first" list once I get my Switch. But then again: I've always been a Zelda fan, so I'll probably be okay with it either way.

I just leafed through all the comments, and I can't believe all the hate and the salt about this award. From all reports, and what I've read and heard, it is completely justified, but people just can't seem to help falling over each other in their haste to ruin the party with their negative bile. I find it utterly disgusting and pathetic.

@gatorboi352 Wait, what? Did you actually just say something positive?

But... but... you're supposed to be a troll...

I'm confused...

(just to be sure: obviously, this comment is meant as a joke, so no real offense meant)

@OorWullie I think you nailed it on the head. Mario galaxy is a fun game, one that I may go back to for longer than I do even Zelda. But Zelda was a wonderful experience.

@rjejr
Wow... you've been posting some very interesting comments lately. I'm actually surprised to hear you say that- I figured you wouldn't disagree about Horizon being your GotY. I guess I'm not crazy when I think the same thing about them over there. Which is a shame because I would really love to chat with some noobs over there in the forums when Monster Hunter comes out.

I think Zelda deserved it. When I hit 200 hours and went to fight Ganon, I was well and truly done. The euphoria had started to wear thin and I was pretty much ready for it to be over. But the journey was absolutely incredible. Those 200 hours (especially the first 100) made me feel the way that I haven't felt in years... the way Metroid Prime made me feel. I'm kind of getting that same feeling with Xenoblade 2, just not as much because I've played Xenoblade X which had one of the coolest worlds in all of video gaming so it takes a lot to impress mean after that high point in the series.

Btw, I had all the back teeth pulled on the bottom right side, so I can't really chew on that side and haven't been able to for years. So when they did dental work on the other side of my mouth and dug too deep to the point I had the most excruciating pain and all of the bottom teeth on the left-hand side, it was a real problem because I couldn't chew at all! Had to go have for emergency root canal's and crowns to make the pain stop. Count your blessings I say.

Also, since you probably think I was being cold to dude on Twitter, he was being a real jerk in the forums, throwing a pity party and I just lost patience with him. Probably could've been a little more tactful but, parading my posts out of context on social media in an attempt to play the victim just royally pissed me off 😤

@ThanosReXXX yeah man, it's a shame that people just rage reply to me around here all the time literally just based on who I am. Usually it's the NDFer-types.

They will find whoever has replied to me as well and blindly upvote them too. It's pretty sad.

@gatorboi352 Well, to be honest: just from reading, and perhaps missing the way you mean things, you do come across as somewhat negative sometimes, and calling out people and labeling them NDF'ers isn't really helping. Stuff like that only helps to keep the negative discussions going, instead of making people realize that they might be wrong, if they even are.

But I've had enough normal conversations with you in the past to know that you're not really a troll, but it might be a good thing to remember that all we have here is text, and each one of us interprets that in his or her own way if it's not abundantly clear what was actually meant by the other person.

Even I have had these kinds of issues with some people, accusing me of being negative or whatever, and I'm probably one of the most relaxed and social people you'll ever meet, there's not a negative bone in my body, but still I get misinterpreted at times.

Anyways, it was still a pleasant surprise to see the positive side of you again. There's already more than enough salt in this comments section.

Not surprised either, but I have to pick Super Mario Odyssey as Game of the Year, in my book.

As amazing BOTW was, there were glaring flaws that kind of watered down the experience for me (Weapon durability, overabundance of Shrines, unnecessarily-high amount of looting to stock up for the dangers ahead, etc.). As a result, I wouldn't really pick BOTW as my GOTY. Heck, it isn't even in the Top 5 games I played in 2017.

This game did not deserve that prize at all since Nintendo purposely left out the Dutch dub that should've been in this game from the get go.

Who's the daddy now
Congratulations Nintendo! We will always love your games! BOTW is still selling. I just hope to play another Zelda game before the next Nintendo console comes out!!!!!!

Xenoblade 2 was ROBBED.

Breath of the Wild totally deserved it though. BOTW >> SMO.

@ThanosReXXX "Novocaine for that, just an injection in the gums with some kind of painkiller"

That painkiller in the injection is probably Novocaine. Or some European name for something similar. I actually asked them not to use the gas as I thought it would be a quick pull to get the tooth out, but man I was so glad I did, 10 minutes of yanking.

@rjejr Over here, we do have an option for "scaredy cats" or people that just have a lower pain threshold for whom even an injection is too painful, and that is complete narcosis, but it is an extra cost, and only used in those specific cases, so not everyone can go "completely under", so you'd have to have a VERY good reason.

In the US, you could probably get anything you want, as long as you pay for it...

As for what is in the injection: drug/medicine regulation is far stricter over here, and I do believe that Novocaine is on the restricted list, so it might be something else, but I don't know for sure, since it never occurred to me (or interested me enough) to ask the dentist what's in the syringe...

Even asking the question is ridiculous, Mario Odyssey doesn't even come close to what BotW has delivered/achieved.

@ThanosReXXX I wasn't under at all, just like a 4 beer buzz. I know why they call it laughing gas.

@Timsworld I smell butthurt

@rjejr Didn't say YOU were under, that was about the narcosis option we have over here.

@JaxonH ok, here's a less odd comment for you - what's so "dumbed down" about the "western" MHW? I played for 20 minutes - when the great jaggis limped off to his cave to recover and time ran out - but it felt too much like MH to me. You're the expert though. I've only played Tri on Wii, and while this game looked great with that huge seamless world, it still seemed mostly the same. Cat sidekick - I name it Cat so I can say that - sharpened my weapon with a whetstone mid-battle, accidentally used a health booster, collected stuff, couldn't find a "lock-on" button, wounded the creature and then time ran out. So while I'm sure it was different, like X added stuff 1-4 didn't have, it seemed like MH to me. Not western, not dumbed down, just prettier w/ an option to swing on vines and a jaggei joined me as a sidekick, still not sure how.

So why all the online hate? Not from you, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I know you played it, what did you think? I'm still waiting on a dumb downed western version myself, lock-on, no time limit, and easy mode where bosses can actually be killed without hours of grinding for armor. I like grinding to a point, 90 hours into KoA:R and as much as I want to finish I still keep doing side quest after side quest b/c they are interesting, but MH demands time and effort. But I'm happy for you if I'm right about MHW, I have too much to play as it is, you getting a reason to use your X1X or Pro is good.

But seriously, let me know what you think of the beta, same, better or worse.

@ThanosReXXX My mistake.

@rjejr
It's fantastic.

So, to answer your question, most talk of being dumbed down were fears of what Capcom would do to appeal to the west. I shared those same fears initially, but it seems they've kept the series true to its roots.

That said, the demo is twice as easy as all previous demos. Even with a Great Jaggi for the Beginner Quest- a monster whose attacks I know like the back of my hand, I have never managed to beat it in a matter of minutes without taking a single hit of damage like I did Great Jaggras. In the MHXX demo, I have still yet to beat the Advanced Quest against Valphalk, whereas I beat Anjanath on my first try. Also, you get to faint 9 times in this demo, as opposed to 3 times in previous demos.

With all that being said, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It did have me worried that the game would be too easy, but those fears were put to rest when I hunted the Diablos and Rathalos, which had exactly the difficulty you would expect. In fact they may have been even harder than previous games due to tells being more difficult to discern.

Nonetheless, there are still changes that cater to the easy side, like moving while drinking potions, rolling in any direction at any time (even during a potion drinking animation), crafting healing potions from 2 green herbs now, having a healing booster that can be used any time (I think its a good change, if you run out of potions at least you can drive the stake in the ground and generate a slow healing mist rather than running back to base camp), can now eat multiple times during quests, can restock from the item box during a quest, etc.

Lots of quality of life improvements though like gathering quickly and auto crafting. The quick access radial menu is also a great addition.

Final thoughts are, it's excellent, most of my worries have been alleviated, and I can't wait for the main game. It's so nice having voice chat and video recording (granted MHXX got an update for video capture recently also, but back on Wii U MH3U was the only game that wouldn't allow screenshots, which I wished for so badly)... I love Switch and I can't wait for a new 5th gen portable entry of MH... best thing about World is it forces the series to step up, and the next portable entry will be incorporating alot of these QoL additions and better graphics... people expect more now, they can't go back, and that's a good thing.

@JaxonH Thanks for the reply. That's what I was guessing but I dont have enough experience. I really only wanted to play to see what it looked like.

@rjejr No worries, man. Happens to the best of us. Guess you're human after all, then...

@ThanosReXXX Wait what happened? Senility man, it's the worst.

Oh that, scared me there for a second. I need a nap that's 3 years long.

@rjejr Wouldn't be the best idea if you ask me: I got up this morning with an unbelievable headache, so I decided not to work, take a few pills and go to bed. I didn't wake up until 15:45, without a headache, but completely bereft of any energy, so after I finally got my bearings again after having taken a hot shower, it was two hours later.

Gone was the day. Imagine taking a 3 year nap...

Although, dragons do tend to partake in extended slumbers...

@ThanosReXXX OK, how about 3 months instead of 3 years, call it hibernation. I'm willing to have 1 groggy day for 3 months of uninterrupted sleep. I think those 3 months would add about 15 years to my life span. And good years at that.

@rjejr Well, it's your life, my friend. Do what you think is best, or rather: what feels best. It's your body and this sounds like a heart over head matter, so if you have to take a break to get the ol' battery back into the green zone, then do it.

Far as we know, we've only received one ticket for this weird and sometimes wonderful journey, so better make the most of it, right?

Could use some (mental) battery recharging myself as well: first Christmas without the Mom...

@ThanosReXXX "Far as we know, we've only received one ticket for this weird and sometimes wonderful journey, so better make the most of it, right?"

Wish you would have told me that before I spent all frikkin' day in that Switch 10m thread. Are you in there, it's been so crazy it's hard to keep up.

Not going to be an easy holiday for you, hang in there. Every year I enjoy my holiday more by not looking at my emails for a week, so you think I'm behind now, I should have over 1,000 unread emails to start the new year. Maybe I should start right now, go all Amish, I'm exhausted.

@rjejr No, I'm not in that thread, yet...
Was about to take a look, but I've got some other stuff to take care of first, before I dive into that hornet's nest. (well, at least: that's how you make it sound anyways... )

Going Amish? I'll probably die before I give up technology and have to wear such dreary garb, let alone having to sport such a weird, mustache-devoid beard...

Luckily, there are no Amish areas over here, although we do have our own Bible-belt. Weird @ss people, who (just to name one random crazy thing among the many crazy things they do) refuse mandatory medicine treatments for their kids, because of their faith...

@ThanosReXXX

Well you probably know that was getting deleted. You ever look into the Hornets nest? I have a dozen unanswered replies or it would be 300 comments long, I had to bail. Never seen anything like it, 2 moderators got involved and it was still nuts. I'd give up NL but I just gave up PS, I can't do cold turkey. Maybe for Christmas week, but I'll be back. Gotta go mail 35 holiday cards, apologies you're not on the list.

@rjejr Got slightly less cards to send, but still around 25. And I won't hold it against you that I'm not on the list. I'm just an anonymous guy on a gaming website and we happen to like discussing stuff. A digital card or wish will suffice, we'll exchange actual cards if you ever happen to find yourself on this side of the pond again. I'll add a beer as well, or cheese, whatever suits you...

What did you mean about what was getting deleted? Didn't quite follow you there...

As for the hornet's nest: I've read ALL the comments, and to an extent, it made my fingers itch, but ultimately, I decided to stay out of it. I truly wonder why the Irish idiot gets so much positivity and praise now, what with all the welcome backs and what not, and you apparently also seem to like him for whatever reason (and apparently @NEStalgia is also okay with him being back), but to me, he's just a cantankerous troll with an overly negative disposition that is a true detriment to the site, and one of the main reasons that I don't enjoy this site as much as I used to anymore.

Using that ignore button wouldn't fix that, and also wouldn't be an option for me, because it would feel like restricting/punishing myself, and I won't allow for some exterior factor to do that to me.

In general, I do agree with you that we shouldn't be judged by some anonymous person, let alone that these people should be the deciding factor in whether or not someone should be allowed on this site or not, but he has more or less convicted himself, with his many (not just a few, like you and me) misinformed statements and ridiculously negative and whiny comments, often stating opinion as fact (something that I definitely can't stand), and to me it always seemed like he had a friend on the site crew, or they were at the very least more mild to him than to other people acting in a similar way, for whatever reason.

I'm a VERY social and relaxed person, and I can relate to almost anybody, and I have also tried to communicate with him in a normal way, which went okayish for a couple of comments, but after that, he didn't even react anymore, even though I always addressed him in a normal way, so I suspect he has used the ignore feature on me, which to me is childish, since I've never done anything that bad, certainly not compared to some more vocal members.

But in general, I do agree with people like that, such as @gortsi, a person that is matter of fact, and just calls 'em like he sees 'em, and he has already caught the guy on more than two handfuls of occasions with false statements or plain bs.

And he definitely DID predict that the Switch was absolutely going to fail, and he explicitly stated to "mark his words", because he was so right about the Wii U, and he was dead certain that he was going to be right about the Switch. And the other annoying thing he was and is probably still doing, is editing his comments after the fact, so say someone caught him, he just changes it to something else so he can say that he never said that, or to trick people into searching for a comment that isn't there anymore. All of it is despicable behavior, or at least: it should be to anyone with at least a half-decent upbringing and some social and moral values...

Then he disappeared for quite a while for whatever reason, much to my very pleasant surprise, although the "thanks to... for this article" mentions underneath several articles were already enough to annoy me again, and now he's back, he all of a sudden has a Switch, the console he so loved to hate on.

What I got from the hornet's nest is that apparently, there are quite a few people on here that have a (much) bigger capacity for forgiveness than me, and I now finally know which idiots actually like and always support the guy, since they commented so enthusiastically about his "glorious" return. And that also somewhat explains the 75+ likes he got, which I also find incomprehensible.

No, I'd better stay away, or I might risk the chance of being warned off by someone. I've already got more than enough on my mind as it is, and those things are FAR more important than some anonymous idiot on a website.

P.S.

You more or less asked for people to lay off slig, which is decent of you and nice, but on the other hand, you do seem to mention gatorboi as a troll, and that is actually someone who isn't, and whom I've had plenty of normal conversations with. He's just a disappointed Nintendo fan, which is understandable from his perspective.

So, if we're going to have to forgive the Irish troll his transgressions and have to get off his back, then the same goes for gator.

@Natzore Nah I'm just being open and honest here. No butthurt here.

@ThanosReXXX Haha, I've gone back and forth on him a few times with his negativity, but ultimately any of the times I've tagged him with a reply and he actually responds his discussions are actually cordial and well reasoned, and eventually I realized he's not actually an adolescent troll but a cranky, bitter, adult like the 3 of us yelling at clouds who wants everyone off his lawn and Nintendo to give him what he thinks he paid for 5 years ago, but still prefers Nintendo and retro gaming. After realizing that I learned to appreciate him more. I think everyone ELSE ganging up on him made him crankier and then he was just egging them on for months.

Though his continuous first posts were a bit of a put off. But I can't dislike a guy that's been nice and well reasoned in any direct conversation with him. And his habit of posting blank first comments as a placeholder to get firstsies and then add the provocative comment later was below board, I agree.

I always assumed they let him go because he seems to be their primary news contributor, feeding them links like voluntary staff and because whiny or opinion-as-fact or not, it wasn't breaking any rules.

I had suspected he'd hit ignore on me a few times due to tons of ignored replies, but he hadn't, he'd occasionally reply still. But being the target of so many replies due to his...controversial....nature, I think he just didn't reply to most anyone even if he read the comments.

As for him owning a Switch, he's always been honest about it saying he planned to buy it once Odyssey came out, and that's exactly what he did. He did insist to me that he'd still be annoyed at having to buy a hybrid instead of a console and that he'd never use portable mode....but I've always presumed (and told him) once he got it he'd use it and like it as much as his beloved WiiU. He's definitely more likable after a few actual conversations. I just hope he doesn't to back to prodding now that he's "part of the club" and can move on.

Oddly he's primarily a retro gamer, I believe, and apparently has spent a ton on OG retro gear...you have more in common with him than a lot of people here believe it or not

If he's ever rude to me in direct communication all bets are off, but so far he's been more congenial than some others, so I can respect that.

As for gator, I believe he's directly said he trolls at least once I agree he's not a troll and I've had great conversations with him, but he absolutely comes off as a troll and that's at least somewhat intentional and it takes a while to get to that conversation with him. Ultimately neither of them are genuine trolls, and both have their faults in their approach. There's actually a few other people I can think of that are the real poisonous deal who only ague with every post.

@ThanosReXXX Agree 100% with what you wrote, well maybe not the gator part but we all have different experiences. A while ago I made a post that someone might have thought was shaming some of these people. But it was just a result of months of frustration of having to deal with a ton of stuff in real life and instead of coming here to relax getting increasingly angry at the constant barrage of stupidity. I'm glad the Irish clown has me on ignore by his own admission and like you I still wonder what the admins here are thinking. We've all been disappointed at one point or another, but the constant trolling will never be acceptable to me

@ThanosReXXX I was only kidding about that 1 mention of gatrboi. He and I have been at odds in the past, I think he once called me a tremendous idiot and the site was better off w/o me, but I kind of laughed it off and kept bugging him anyway. Last I checked we were ok, he replies to me occasionally, I reply to him occasionally, not BFFs or anything but I THINK we're on speaking terms.

And Slig aside - my kid is kicking me off, no time - I really thought about YOU w/ that "Wall of Shame" post. How many times were you certain the NX would be home and away, a dock was practically anathema to your very existence. I was imagining you being summoned to the site by someone you don't know w/ some "no way no how" dock comment. I know you'd love that.

gotta go, he's staring

@NEStalgia Yeah, I guess that in the end, it all depends on personal experiences and, when you have to interpret from text alone, first impressions, if you haven't had any personal dealings with someone.

Either way, my opinion of him won't change any time soon, unless he shows some signs of normalcy or decency, and that isn't something I've seen from him all too often. But I'm willing to give it a chance, so I hope he can prove me wrong. I do prefer people having a glass half full mindset...

And besides the (first post) editing, he's also done weirder stuff, like contributing to the site with a news post, and in that same post, he spouts something negative about the very article he submitted to the NLife crew.

Normally, you'd expect someone to submit something to the site because they're enthusiastic about it, or they like it, or if it's interesting, not just so that you can place a negative comment underneath any article that NLife decides to make from it.

@gortsi Thanks. And it is indeed all dependent on personal experiences, but trust me: I'm a damn good judge of character (you actually need to be in my line of work, sales & marketing) and gator is no troll, he just indulges in "proving" some people right about him being one. It's probably just irritation at being accused of it, but I've had more than enough normal discussions with him in the past.

Perhaps we all should be a little less easy to trigger. After all, we're all anonymous, we interpret text in our own way, and we really don't know the other people on here, or only a little bit, provided we've had some more extensive conversations with them.

And sometimes, we just have a bad day, and like you say, we come here for a bit of relaxation, but instead, these annoyances only make it even worse, making us lash out as well.

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, so I'll just make one now, and that is to be even more calm and relaxed than I already was, and if I don't like something or someone, I'm just not going to post anything. Wouldn't want to be the one that is responsible for continuing a useless or negative discussion...

@rjejr Ah, okay, my bad on the gator part. Blame it on wrongful text interpretation...

And yeah, the whole NX thing is definitely my biggest mistake on here, but at least it was an honest (unedited) one, since there was LITERALLY no evidence pointing to what was then labeled by me as the ridiculous hybrid rumor. That just couldn't be it, in my mind.

And I wasn't even channeling SMD or PlayerEssence, but it made no sense to go in the direction of something that wasn't confirmed by any lead that we might have had at the time.

And then there was the (ex)Ubi developer I was in contact with, who also said it was going to be a powerful and competent system. (come to think of it, he may not even have lied, since the handheld part of it does indeed mean that the Switch is crazy powerful, and easily beats systems such as the Vita, so I guess it all depends on perspective)

But if someone wants to put me on a wall of shame for that, then that's fine by me (since I couldn't care less anyway) and they actually can do that, since my comments are unedited (or if they are, I simply add an edit below the original text, but I don't remove that original comment) and all of them are still there, so my "crazy" assumptions can still be found somewhere in the comments sections of NX related articles.

Have at it...

@ThanosReXXX "Have at it..."

Yeah, it's the have at it back-and-forth that I thought would be very interesting.

We've had this conversation before about saying "I told you so" to people. you don't do it b/c you don't see the point even though you're presented w/ a lot of opportunities to do so. It's not productive, and when it's done by strangers it's not even fun, it's just mean spirited, and I have no use for mean spiritedness.

@rjejr Well, there's already more than enough people on here picking up that specific glove, so you and me are better off sticking to watching the chaos unfold. Like with the latest hornet's nest, I've little interest in diving in anymore. I suppose I finally reached that "you should be smarter than that" point...

@ThanosReXXX Yeah, I mean I can't fault you for your view of him, I had that view for a long time as well UNTIL he replied to me with reasonable responses with things explaining why his opinion was as it was, and after looking at it through his perspective and what his points of criticism are (and knowing he's not just a sour grapes kid throwing a tantrum but a cranky adult that does spend heavily on gaming and does dislike non-Nintendo platforms more)....and through that lens his comments are more reasonable and I can't fully disagree with them with the context of what irks him in tow.

BUT he comes off as pouty (and gator comes off as a bully) (and yorumi comes off as both), but all 3 are reasonable behind the first impressions.

Of interest, slig's participation in the forum side has been a lot more tame than his participation in the article comments.

Ultimately I think it's a feedback loop (maybe his disappearance was "encouraged" by mods to cool it down). He started off whiny and annoyed at Nintendo. And his frequency and urgency of posts caught a lot of people's attention, and then they started railing on him for it, and then that made him more annoyed and whiny, and then they pounced more and then it just became a meme on NL to the point that he gets spammed the moment he posts anything (even if it's positive) now, and spirals from there, so his quietness probably benefits everyone, but it didn't have to be like that. In a different timeline I could see him being annoyed and bitter with Nintendo like gator and yorumi without being a running gag on the site. What happened between WiiU and Switch release can't really be "unseen" by the site without a name change (for all we know he's already posting under a different user and nobody knows it's him.)

But there's users that have only spouted arguments and badgering at people without having reasonable conversations and being "part" of the community. Despite his transgressions he has done the latter, so while the most visible, I wouldn't consider him among the top 5 least beneficial members.

My favorable view could easily be broken if the antics start up/get worse again though

@NEStalgia I do respect your opinion and views, and can agree to some extent, but he definitely IS in that top 5 for me, and probably even on the no. 1 position, and I've been hanging around here for quite a while, and in that time I've seen all manner of trolls and negative ranters come and go, and for me, he definitely takes the cake...

It is of course always a feedback loop in the comment section, because whenever you say something, whether that's negative or positive, that has an opening to latch on to, then you further the discussion. One can also learn to make statements that are more closed, which do not really invite/trigger/annoy others into responding...

What he was mostly doing, until recently, is continuously fanning the flames. We could argue that he wasn't (always) aware of that, but something tells me that's highly debatable.

Something that isn't debatable, is him insulting people that he claimed were insulting him. You should always be the better man. Let them insult or curse, just report and ignore them, don't become a part of the problem. It's a sign of weakness and lack of intelligence and/or social skills.

Anyway, like I said before, I really would like to be proven wrong, or I would like to see him make a turn for the better, but for me personally, that still wouldn't make me like him. He's already had WAY more than his three strikes, but at least it will make the experience of being on the site pleasant once again, something that is all too often not the case anymore, unfortunately...

@ThanosReXXX "you should be smarter than that"

Yeah, I'm working on that. (I know you were talking about yourself, but it's funnier this way)

@Timsworld Booh booh, no Dutch dub so I don't like the game, booh boooh

@rjejr Well, you're welcome to it, although I do have to wonder if the intent comes across, seeing as being on the site less frequently isn't really what I meant with " being smarter than that"...

@Natzore sorry that I don't accept Nintendo pooping all over my beautiful language that they Incorporated into their own dang system.

@Timsworld watch the language

@Joeynator3000 Ok whatever.