The GNamer Forum Awards 2023 - And We're Off!

Lots of good reasons why people can't log on more regularly.  I've been the epitome of that this week, barely having time in the evenings to settle down with my laptop.  And I thoroughly agree with Jimbob that our mobile site is a load of tripe.  I keep intending to make more effort to use it, then making the kombucha woman meme face.

I am actually a massive Discord head (I'm on the Back Page Discord getting drive-bys from Samuel all the time these days) and would be pretty happy if we expanded our server!  Just... I don't want it to replace this, y'know?  The best parts of GNamer are the massive posts, in LGYF&YT and elsewhere.  And I've always been worried that the more we expand our reach elsewhere, the less that will happen.  As it turns out, there are less posts here anyway, so I'm probably just being needlessly change-averse.

On other topics: thanks Smurf, and Jas I may have arranged those comments on purpose.

Good showing Balla with these votes, hope we do again next year. What were your Top Nintendo / Nontendo games in full?

My 2023 Games (So no Metroid Prime or Fusion) altogether including honourables at one point I was voting for Number 12 which then didn't get used, which I'm doing as someone moved Cocoon, and I've already talked about what's a Nintendo game to me etc

1st Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Future Redeemed
2nd Spider-Man 2
3rd Final Fantasy XVI
4th Cocoon
5th Robocop: Rogue City
6th Star Ocean Second Story R
7th Fire Emblem Engage
8th Bayonetta Origins
9th Jusant
10th A Space for the Unbound
11th Disney Illusion Island
12th Starfield

2023 weird year for me, and I'm not talking all the stuff that happened to me but for games as I think even Balla mentions it when BGIII was brought up how 2023 is now talked about one of the best years ever. Yet I look at my list which has quality games for sure, though my number 1 is a massive expansion and neat indies in the mix, sure I didn't play all the big games for various reason in 2023 or just didn't like them such as Alan Wake II.

Then Nintendo with this being a Nintendo-centric forum do have four exclusives in my Top 12 and I did play ASftU on Switch that's pretty good 41.67%, yet I feel the Switch really dropped off for me after Illusion Island in July. You can read into other stats like five RPG's or five Japanese games if you wish. Why 2024 for me looks better as I've already played Tekken, Granblue got Rebirth, Dragons Dogma II coming up which are right in my wheelhouse.

Happy to expand the discord, but I do like coming on here and having a ramble of these are the games of 2023 I liked etc.

I like how we're talking about an existing GNamer discord like it's not actually an Among Us private game discord.

The_Jaster wrote:

Treesmurf wrote:

I also see they've added private lobbies now, not sure how many people it's for but there's a potential multiplayer session to be had there.

I even suggested a GNamer league over on twitter, also the private lobbies are for 99 people  & every mode can be played.

I had no idea these were added! Sorry, it's all the time I spent playing (*checks console log*) No Man's Sky? Oh my medication. But I would be absolutely down for a GNamerian FZero 99.


As for the forum v dsicord thing: I do still prefer taking time to write stuff here. But the layout looks ridiculous in 2024! Most of the screen is taken up by headers and unnecessary details (which would be hidden behind menus in a mobile app) - unless anyone's writing a really long post, there's blank space everywhere. And I know the big avatar pics are funny, but every other form of social media worked out that that's far too much space taken up.

I'd have thought you could still make large posts on discord, it's just about making the right channels and ting, but hey, I'm not a large poster. I didn't vote this year because I am spending much less time on the forum, (also because I didn't see the point in voting against Zelda), I'd be up for more discord presence as that's something I'm much more active on.

I’d be up for a substantive GNamer Discord channel if it meant there was an opportunity for our community to grow and expand a bit. I prefer this to stay as a forum for sure, but it’s getting quieter by the year and if that’s what the future holds then I feel there’s a need to consider alternatives to this admittedly old-fashioned way of discussion and debate.

It’s been literal years since anybody new made a lasting contribution to GNamer. Potential new members might reinvigorate the place. I don’t think we can attract any here (although looking at the view counts for some of the threads, I think there’s a good number of lurkers viewing this forum more than we’re logging in to make new posts). But on a Discord channel? There might be a chance, and there might be an opportunity.

Agreed, I'd love some new blood. There's been some resistance in the past to opening up, comparing GNamer to a pub with friendly locals - with the implied less warm attitude to outsiders. If that's changed, or if in fact I've just misread the mood, then great! I'm happy to plug the Discord on Twitter/X, and hopefully some people would trickle down to read the bigger posts on here...? We'd maybe want the name and logo to change though.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

...(also because I didn't see the point in voting against Zelda)...

The comments, man, the comments! I'm delighted that Ghost Trick got fourth place, even if that's just me spinning unintelligible yarns in its favour.

masofdas wrote:

Good showing Balla with these votes, hope we do again next year. What were your Top Nintendo / Nontendo games in full?

Thanks Mas! No Nontendo for me this year, but my Nintendo votes were Ghost Trick/Future Redeemed/Mario Wonder/Cassette Beasts/Space for the Unbound in that order. The next five (assuming I continued to irk Buska by not voting TotK) would likely have been Metroid Prime/Chants of Sennaar/Drainus/Golden Idol/Storyteller.

Balladeer wrote:

As for the winner, I must admit it's not something I've tried out, mostly because of its (presumed ) multiformat nature.  I'll have to remedy that!  Any suggestions for a best episode for a Nintendo-head to give a listen to?

Episodes do cover multiformat topics, yes, but the appeal of the podcast is the comedic exaggerations of ourselves we all become when we get competitive over meaningless, mundane trivia. Mercy and Matt, two non-gamers, are both avid listeners.

THAT SAID! Here's a recent-ish episode from each of the main ones to potentially get started with:

Buskalilly
My episodes, naturally, have a more Nintendo-heavy slant to them but I think you'll appreciate this recent Valentine's Special which features poetry and then an unflinching segment on Games Industry Bullshit.

JayMoyles
Jay has been doing some console specials, and the very first one was an NES Special which I think is a good example of how we manage to have fun even when the subject might seem dry on paper.

Crumpy Andy
Andy is the most multiformat host, and also tends to talk about recent games. Still, his Christmas Special has knocked it out of the park two years in a row. This year had two music rounds full of bangers.

Muss
The elusive Muss had done some standard episodes but also some really experimental stuff. The Mussterons was the stuff of Legends for GGS fans.

There's plenty else you'll like, I'm sure. The Hogwarts Legacy Special is probably up your street, while the Fanfic double bill hosted by Mercy was educational for all of us.
If you're still willing to listen to Samuel's awful takes multiple times a week on TBP, you should be giving this a proper listen.

Apologies for not getting onto to chime in about the results - my new job involves me typing to people all day, so where in my last job I didn't want to use my voice at the end of a working day, I'm not not looking to sit in front of my computer at the end of a day. I'm squeezing in a forum visit during a rare quiet spell at work here.

Some thoughts:

- Zelda is the obvious yet correct winner.

- I think the lack of votes from one Andrew Rice resulted in BGIII not charting highly.

- "Clive!"

- Re: moving to Discord. I'm pretty crap about using Discord as well, but I'm more likely to be able to drop a quicker message on there as I feel the forum is more for long-form chats. I wouldn't want to bin this place altogether, but I think the points about it not working well at all on Mobile is a great point. It's also somewhere we have to pay for to keep ad-free and Discord wouldn't have that issue. I think it's something worth seriously considering though.

- Cheers for the lovely comments about GGS and Hyrule Field Report. I love doing both of them and chatting games with mates most weeks.

masofdas wrote:

I know Jay is Death Stranding. We've not really talked-about it, know ya got the platinum (nice) where I've only got 69% (nice) of the trophies but I love the story and the even more bonkers second one I'm downfor over the gameplay which I still really like, why like my 4th favourite game ever.

Yeah, the plat was a slog, I wouldn't recommend it, but I did have lots of fun with the deliveries and arsing about in the world. The story is still wank, though.

Solution to y'all is to get yourselves a Mac for home use. (taps head)

Buskalilly wrote:

Episodes do cover multiformat topics, yes, but the appeal of the podcast is the comedic exaggerations of ourselves we all become when we get competitive over meaningless, mundane trivia. Mercy and Matt, two non-gamers, are both avid listeners.

THAT SAID! Here's a recent-ish episode from each of the main ones to potentially get started with:

I'm thinking Mercy might be sliiiiiiiiiightly biased. That said, it's actually on Pocket Casts this one - you've got yourself a new subscriber! I'll try out some of the ones you mentioned for starters. I presume, given that you're talking it up, that the Hogwarts Legacy Special will be dunking on Hogwarts Legacy the entire time.

Buskalilly wrote:

If you're still willing to listen to Samuel's awful takes multiple times a week on TBP, you should be giving this a proper listen.

No idea why you don't have much respect for the man who put Pikmin 4 in his 2023 top ten but didn't put TotK.