1997, Game of the Year

[The_Liquid_Laser]

The 1997 Game of the Year is Final Fantasy VII.
The runner up is Goldeneye 007.
The master thread for all of these contests can be found here.

Please comment on what you believe to be the Game of the Year for 1997.  You might even want to discuss/argue with other posters first before you vote.  Or maybe you just want to argue with yourself first?  Whatever.  Please vote for Game of the Year for 1997 and post why.  Without further ado, here is the list of games.

 

Age of Empires (PC/Mac)
This RTS game also incorporates elements of Civilization, because it was designed by the first Civilization’s co-designer Bruce Shelley.  Age of Empires would sell over 3 million copies.

 

Diablo (PC)
The devil’s at the bottom of the dungeon, so you better go sic ‘em.  Diablo felt like an action roguelike.  The gameplay was incredibly addictive.  Also, this was one of the earliest games where you could play on the internet, although it was really easy to kill your allies while trying to “team up” with them.  Ultimately, Diablo would go on to sell over 2.5 million units worldwide.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Playstation)
This co-creator of the Metroidvania genre sold poorly at first.  For some reason Konami was still making 2D games when everyone else was making 3D games.  Eventually people began to realize that 2D games looked awesome on Generation 5 hardware.  Symphony of the Night is considered by many to be the best in the Castlevania series, and Gamefaqs also has it listed as the highest rated of all Playstation games.

 

Final Fantasy VII (Playstation)
The two most important companies to the history of video games are Nintendo and Sony.  Consequently, the most important moment in gaming history may be when Nintendo lost to Sony as the leader among the home console market.  This seemed to happen in 1997 when Final Fantasy VII launched on the Playstation instead of a Nintendo system like each of the previous Final Fantasy games.  Sony considered this a huge win and launched a gigantic marketing campaign advertising Final Fantasy VII.  On top of that, Final Fantasy VII happened to be a really great game.  Final Fantasy VII sold over 10 million copies on the Playstation alone making it the second best-selling game on the platform.

 

Final Fantasy Tactics (Playstation)
There must have been something in the water at Squaresoft in 1997.  Just a few months after they launched Final Fantasy VII, they also released what is arguably the most beloved tactical RPG of all time.  This was also the first Final Fantasy game to feature the world of Ivalice.  Final Fantasy Tactics would sell over 2.4 million copies.

 

Gran Turismo (Playstation)
Gran Turismo, the best-selling game on the Playstation would release the same year as Final Fantasy VII, its second best-selling title.  This driving sim would sell over 10.8 million copies on the Playstation, and it began a series that would sell over 90 million copies.

 

Diddy Kong Racing (N64)
Rare releases their own kart racer on the N64.  Diddy Kong Racing would sell over 4.8 million copies.

 

Goldeneye 007 (N64)
Be James Bond and shoot people.  Consoles would get a FPS of their very own with Goldeneye 007, and Rare would continue to show just how valuable they were to Nintendo.  Goldeneye 007 was the N64’s third best-selling game with over 8 million copies sold.

Starfox 64 (N64)
Starfox 64 doesn’t go 3D for the first time, because it was always 3D.  This N64 version would sell over 4 million copies.  “Do a barrel roll!”

 

Other (please specify)
If you think another game deserves to be "Game of the Year" other than one of the 9 I listed above, then please vote “Other” and say your game in the comments.  If the "Other" category takes at least 2nd place and no other game gets at least 50% of the vote, then I will do a runoff vote including the most mentioned game(s) from the comments.

The winner of this vote will be decided Saturday, Oct 14 at 11:59 EST.

(You can also vote on the Game of the Year for 1996 here.  Voting ends on that Thursday, Oct 12 at 11:59 EST.)

 

Last edited by The_Liquid_Laser - on 15 October 2023