HF Retro Game of the Year - 1998 - Ocarina of Time

[SniperHF]

So we have game of the year votes from 2011 to 2017 but none from before, so why not do it now?

Slightly different rules since we're talking about old games. Votes can be changed, so if you hear a case or debate it out maybe you'll come out on the other side and you can change it.

Previous years:
2017 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 31%
2016 - Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - 20%
2015 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - 35%
2014 - South Park: The Stick of Truth - 15%
2013 - The Last of Us - 29%
2012 - The Walking Dead - 20%
2011 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - 48%

Retro Votes:
2010 - Red Dead Redemption - 31.6%
2009 - Assassin's Creed II - 20%
2008 - Fallout 3 - 43.5%
2007 - Mass Effect - 25%
2006 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 22.8%
2005 - Civilization IV - 22.4%
2004 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 27.4%
2003 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - 46.4%
2002 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - 34.2%
2001 - Grand Theft Auto III - 31.9%
2000 - Diablo II - 20.5%
1999 - Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings - 20%

Click to read more...

 

[Holden Caulfield]

I've sunk more hours in SC than probably anything else in my entire life. Hope that it wins.

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

 

[filip85]

Although Half Life was great game, Starcraft was just on whole another level.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Voted Ocarina of Time but I stared long and hard at Baldur’a Gate before I did it.

 

[Teemu]

Doo doo doot, doo doo doot, doo doo doo doo doot, doo doo doo doo doot... doo doo doo doot

 

[syz]

Might only need part of one hand to count the games more influential than Ocarina.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Gran Turismo for me

 

[Mikeaveli]

Fallout 2 easily for me. Tbh I've never really gotten the massive hype for OoT, I prefer Majora's Mask.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

This is a really tough one for me, Half Life or Baldurs Gate? Both were great, genre defining games.

Half Life transformed the FPS. Its use of in-game dialogue and happenings around you set the template for all single player FPS's. The inclusion of modding tools spawned Counter-Strike. And it has the greatest opening level of all time. I say level, it's just you travelling around Black Mesa on a monorail for 10 minutes, but it was awesome. Especially once you finished the game and went back and recognised all the areas that you played through in the game.

Baldur's Gate on the other hand, single handedly resurrected the fantasy RPG. You young 'uns might not believe this, but in 1998 this genre was regarded as a joke, played only by unwashed bearded nerds. I still remember the PC Gamer review for BG, it was only 1 page (big games got 4 or 6 pages), and most of it was spent mocking the game and making jokes about Kobolds, before giving it a score of 76. Several million copies later and RPGs were suddenly cool again. Bioware went on to be this gaming beast, making a string of great games. And it all started with BG, with it's 3D isometric graphics, nerdy AD+D ruleset - oh, and gripping story, memorable characters, and great gameplay. It also came in an awesome box.

I think I've convinced myself, Baldur's Gate it is, so sayeth the Wise Alaundo

 

[Realgud]

Starcraft, not even close. Half life is a deep favorite of mine but it doesn't even touch on how much Starcraft changed my life. OOT is fantastic, even though it is commonly overrated.

 

[Bjorn Le]

This is a really tough one for me, Half Life or Baldurs Gate? Both were great, genre defining games.

Half Life transformed the FPS. Its use of in-game dialogue and happenings around you set the template for all single player FPS's. The inclusion of modding tools spawned Counter-Strike. And it has the greatest opening level of all time. I say level, it's just you travelling around Black Mesa on a monorail for 10 minutes, but it was awesome. Especially once you finished the game and went back and recognised all the areas that you played through in the game.

Baldur's Gate on the other hand, single handedly resurrected the fantasy RPG. You young 'uns might not believe this, but in 1998 this genre was regarded as a joke, played only by unwashed bearded nerds. I still remember the PC Gamer review for BG, it was only 1 page (big games got 4 or 6 pages), and most of it was spent mocking the game and making jokes about Kobolds, before giving it a score of 76. Several million copies later and RPGs were suddenly cool again. Bioware went on to be this gaming beast, making a string of great games. And it all started with BG, with it's 3D isometric graphics, nerdy AD+D ruleset - oh, and gripping story, memorable characters, and great gameplay. It also came in an awesome box.

I think I've convinced myself, Baldur's Gate it is, so sayeth the Wise Alaundo

Yes. Baldur's Gate is the reason why wRPGs are still popular and profitable today. I don't think games like Morrowind, Dragon Age, or the Witcher can happen without Baldur's Gate. Sometimes legacy isn't that important for how good a game was but Baldur's Gate was amazing. With the Steam sale on, I think everyone should pick up Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 enhanced editions.

That being said, I'm comfortable with most games on the list winning. 1998 was such a defining year in gaming.

 

[Realgud]

Might only need part of one hand to count the games more influential than Ocarina.

Starcraft 1's campaign editor allowed the birth of the most popular game genre now, and possibly ever (mobas).

Starcraft 1 was the first game to have paid progamers with salaries (thus giving birth to professional esports). Games like Quake already had paid tournaments and such, but the players didn't have official salaries yet.

Starcraft 1 is probably the only game ever that played a MAJOR part in the culture of a whole country. I went to korea, I lived in korea, my wife is korean, and EVERYONE knows about starcraft, about the famous players, its history... Every korean male knows how to play the game at an above average level (at least those who are 20+ years old). It was as popular as a sport like hockey in Canada, and possibly more. It's a cultural phenomenon that is difficult to explain and is unlikely to ever be repeated.

Starcraft 1 is still played professionally even today in Korea, and recently had a remastered edition that gave Blizzard an incentive to organize multiple leagues/tournaments and the game is miraculously growing in popularity in the country. The sequel isn't nearly as popular.

In conclusion, I fail to see how ANY game in history even come close to the impact this game had. Even if you hated it, it would be foolish to call any other game as being more impactful than starcraft 1.

I would like to hear your reasoning behind calling OOT one of the most influential game ever. I'm genuinely curious because I personally haven't really seen the impact, but maybe you can explain it to me because I am ready to admit that I could be wrong in calling SC1 the most influential game ever

 

[The Macho King]

Fallout 2 easily for me. Tbh I've never really gotten the massive hype for OoT, I prefer Majora's Mask.

As much as I loved Fallout 2 when it came out, nowadays when I go back to replay it I just roll my eyes and install Fallout 1 instead.

Thief is one of the most interesting and fun games I have ever played. Gladly vote for that.

 

[Bjorn Le]

Ocarina was influential in the sense it was arguably the first AAA 3D fantasy RPG (so not older 3D fantasy RPGs that had battlescreens, like FFVII). But I don't think it influenced other developers all that much. There's not many games like Ocarina outside the Zelda franchise, and you don't see the Ocarina legacy in games like Dark Souls or The Elder Scrolls.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Ocarina of TIme for me easily. While i think it's still not even the best game in the series and gets put to shame by other zelda games that actually did "open world" right, it gets major props for transitioning to 3D almost seemlessly, much like Mario, and eventually Metroid did later on. It's for sure the main reason why i absolutely love bow and arrow combat in games. When i was a kid i used to just **** around in dungeons by trying to shoot everything from long range. Unforunately, despite my precise aim it did not transition to me being able to play Hanzo well in Overwatch.

Also probably still by far my favorite OST in video games.

MGS would be my second pick for similar "woah factor" reasons even though i'm not a huge fan of the series.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Starcraft 1's campaign editor allowed the birth of the most popular game genre now, and possibly ever (mobas).

Starcraft 1 was the first game to have paid progamers with salaries (thus giving birth to professional esports). Games like Quake already had paid tournaments and such, but the players didn't have official salaries yet.

Starcraft 1 is probably the only game ever that played a MAJOR part in the culture of a whole country. I went to korea, I lived in korea, my wife is korean, and EVERYONE knows about starcraft, about the famous players, its history... Every korean male knows how to play the game at an above average level (at least those who are 20+ years old). It was as popular as a sport like hockey in Canada, and possibly more. It's a cultural phenomenon that is difficult to explain and is unlikely to ever be repeated.

Starcraft 1 is still played professionally even today in Korea, and recently had a remastered edition that gave Blizzard an incentive to organize multiple leagues/tournaments and the game is miraculously growing in popularity in the country. The sequel isn't nearly as popular.

In conclusion, I fail to see how ANY game in history even come close to the impact this game had. Even if you hated it, it would be foolish to call any other game as being more impactful than starcraft 1.

I would like to hear your reasoning behind calling OOT one of the most influential game ever. I'm genuinely curious because I personally haven't really seen the impact, but maybe you can explain it to me because I am ready to admit that I could be wrong in calling SC1 the most influential game ever

This is an argument for SC1s popularity, not influence. The vast majority of people do not play games professionally, and the RTS genre is unfortunately pretty much dead.

 

[Realgud]

This is an argument for SC1s popularity, not influence. The vast majority of people do not play games professionally, and the RTS genre is unfortunately pretty much dead.

Hmmm I don't think this is true because professional gaming became a real thing (worldwide) after proved to be possible in Korea. I think Korea was a clear influence because of their passion with Starcraft.

Furthermore, it doesn't contradict the point I made about the MOBA genre, which is huge in itself (having a map editor that includes some form of programming with the "triggers", allowing for more complex scenarios).

 

[Commander Clueless]

I gotta go with Starcraft personally. We're into the Golden Age of RTS now - the era that brought me into gaming in the first place.

 

[Osprey]

Half Life transformed the FPS. Its use of in-game dialogue and happenings around you set the template for all single player FPS's. The inclusion of modding tools spawned Counter-Strike. And it has the greatest opening level of all time. I say level, it's just you travelling around Black Mesa on a monorail for 10 minutes, but it was awesome. Especially once you finished the game and went back and recognised all the areas that you played through in the game.

Every few years, I start up Half-Life just to see if it still runs and end up sitting through the whole opening because it's so good. I always quit before the actual gameplay starts because the opening sufficiently gives me my dose of nostalgia. It was even more awesome 20 years ago if you had an A3D-capable sound card. It was amazing to have your back to the speaker in the monorail car and actually hear the voice coming from behind you, even though you had no rear speakers.

Yes. Baldur's Gate is the reason why wRPGs are still popular and profitable today. I don't think games like Morrowind, Dragon Age, or the Witcher can happen without Baldur's Gate. Sometimes legacy isn't that important for how good a game was but Baldur's Gate was amazing.

I wouldn't go quite that far. Morrowind would've still happened without Baldur's Gate, because 1996's Daggerfall was a smash hit and justified a sequel, and I suspect that it would've still been a phenomenon, because what helped it achieve that was being cross released on consoles, and console gamers largely had no familiarity with BG. Baldur's Gate was more important, IMO, in keeping alive some of the hardcore aspects of classical RPGs, like parties and turn-based action. You can see its influence in Dragon Age and The Witcher, as you noted. I think that RPGs would still be popular and profitable today without BG, though, because arguably the most popular style of RPG (represented by Skyrim and Fallout) is modeled after Morrowind and follows the general open world craze, neither of which BG can be credited with. BG can, most definitely, be credited with keeping hardcore RPG gameplay alive, but that's no longer the only type of RPG available.

BTW, it's not a game, but I think that a lot of the de-nerding of RPGs can be attributed to The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. In the 80s and 90s (including even after BG was released), you were total nerd if you were into elves, dwarves, goblins and the like. Thanks to the extreme popularity of the three LoTR movies in the early 2000s, though, the stigma has vanished and those things are no longer embarrassing to be into. I think that that's played a huge, and often overlooked, factor in the exploding popularity of fantasy RPGs in the last 15 years.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Voted Half-Life - probably my favourite single player FPS of all time and the game was responsible for creating Counter-Strike and Team Fortress Classic.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is tied for me, but I figured Half-Life needs the votes more.

 

[syz]

Hmmm I don't think this is true because professional gaming became a real thing (worldwide) after proved to be possible in Korea. I think Korea was a clear influence because of their passion with Starcraft.

Furthermore, it doesn't contradict the point I made about the MOBA genre, which is huge in itself (having a map editor that includes some form of programming with the "triggers", allowing for more complex scenarios).

I was attending Quake tournaments and hearing about fighting game tournaments before StarCraft existed, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Esports didn't hit a Korean-level of popularity elsewhere in the world for yeaaaars after SC was dead and gone, too, so I dunno how much credit we want to give it there. Even then, I generally view modern corporate esports as a detriment to gaming, so if anything it would just make me dislike SC even more.

Know what revolutionized esports in the west? Justin.tv.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Lol the correct answer is OoT

 

[ViktorBaeArvidsson]

I’ve only played Crash Banditcoot... WARPED!!!

 

[Ducks in a row]

I’ve only played Crash Banditcoot... WARPED!!!

The same thing for me.