Golden Joystick Awards 2012: Best RPG category – who are you voting for?

Only one can take home the coveted Golden Joystick

Words: GamesRadar_MattCundy on October 10, 2012

As voting for the Golden Joystick Awards 2012 enters its final weeks, we take a look at each of the individual categories. Today is the turn of Best RPG category.

Best RPG shortlist:

Who are we voting for?

Matt Cundy (UK Editor): Mass Effect 3. I particularly liked the ending.

David Houghton (UK Associate Editor): Damn, this is a tricky one. The insanely rewarding gameplay purism of Dark Souls, or the stunningly written, tangibly believable, none-more rich world of The Witcher 2? This is by far the hardsest category yet. I'm going to have to just make a snap decision based on gut emotional response, and that decision is going to be The Witcher 2. But if you guys could arrange amongst yourselves to split your votes between both, that would be great. Thanks.

Justin Towell (UK Content Editor): No question here, it has to be Skyrim. It’s just magnificent. I love the freedom to explore however you want, play however you want and develop your character however you want. I love the tiny details you feel like only you’ve discovered. The funny notes you find lying around. The result of a Fus Ro Dah next to a banquet table. The way my conscience made me put a necklace back in a corpse’s inventory because of its greater sentimental value to the dead woman. What a game.

Those are the RPG games getting our votes, but what about you – who are you voting for? Tell us in the comments.

Head to Golden Joystick Awards to vote. Voting closes 22 October. The Golden Joystick Awards 2012 take place 26 October.

Platforms:

Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii

Topics:

Golden Joystick Awards, Sponsored

26 comments

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richard-j-lewis - October 11, 2012 8:26 a.m.

★★★★★★★★ SWEET! I just got a free Xbox live codes at http://xboxdailycode.com/ ★★★★★★★★
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ThatGamerDude - October 10, 2012 8:51 p.m.

Even though I have yet to play it, I'd choose Dead Souls just for its immersive difficulty.
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dcobs123 - October 10, 2012 5:51 p.m.

I think I'll go Dark Souls, had high hopes for Skyrim and Diablo 3 but they were just alright. Also, anyone who's up to date on their JRPGs know if Xenoblade is anything like Xenogears or Xenosaga?
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Clovin64 - October 10, 2012 5:02 p.m.

Well bugger me, this is a tough choice. Dragon's Dogma was the big surprise of the year for me. ME3 finally let my Shep declare her undying love for Garrus, and FFXIII-2 had that jaw-dropping ending. But I'm going to go for Skyrim, which really shows its genius once you start playing through again with different character builds and get a totally new experience.
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KnowYourPokemon - October 10, 2012 3:29 p.m.

Easily Witcher 2. That game was amazing enough the way it was when it was released. Now including all of the features the enhanced edition added? For free to those who already own the game? Hell yeah! It's one of the few games I could actually consider deserving of the "Mature" rating as well. A dark fantasy game for the history books.
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GoldenEagle1476 - October 10, 2012 2:22 p.m.

Tough choice between Skyrim and ME3, but I'd have to say Skyrim. 140+ hours in that game as of now, and I love the norse setting.
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TwinHallow - October 10, 2012 1:02 p.m.

Wait I change my mind if you have Skyrim for PC there is ENDLESS things to do don't like the Quests Theres a Mod for that think the games to easy Theres a Mod for that want more wepons armors and spells Theres a Mod for that want to play in super mario bros world Theres a Mod for that! lol pretty much any thing you can think of someone has created a mod for it.
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Sjoeki - October 10, 2012 1:59 p.m.

I'm not saying that Skyrim is a bad game (haven't played it) but should it win if someone other then the creators of the game put a lot of time and effort in it to get the game they wanted? Again, I'm not saying it's a bad game, and it might be a shame that I missed it but I was just wondering about that.
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TwinHallow - October 10, 2012 12:57 p.m.

It is between Skyrim or ME3 for me there so different though so its hard to choose.
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jacob-m-hill - October 10, 2012 12:20 p.m.

I have to Go with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
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Sjoeki - October 10, 2012 11:57 a.m.

ME 3 has to be my pick, people can bitch about the ending as much as they want but they seem to forget the 40 + hours that constantly reminded people of the choices they made in the previous games. And every mission gave me the feeling that I was taking part in something bigger then myself. Not much games pulled that off.
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Talvari - October 10, 2012 11:52 a.m.

Would have to be between Dark Souls, FFXIII-2 and Xenoblade for me. I appreciate what skyrim did but in the end the main questline still leaves a lot to be desired so that cuts it from the list for me. Probably go with Xenoblade because it's the first JRPG in a while that actually seemed to have a lot of love poured into it. Can't wait for their Wii U title :D
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RebornKusabi - October 10, 2012 10 a.m.

Hands-down Dark Souls, Skyrim was goddamn boring to me. Second place would be The Witcher 2.
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Ronnie-_- - October 10, 2012 9:39 a.m.

Hmmmm, tough choice between The Witcher 2 and Dark Souls. On one hand you have The Witcher 2 with an incredible choice-driven story, deep, satisfying RPG combat, excellent voice acting, and meaningful characters. Then you have Dark Souls, which has some of the best atmosphere in gaming, NG+ and NG++, a sense of real accomplishment when you defeat one of the bosses, and an absolute badass for a main character. Hmmmm, tough choice indeed, I'm going to have to go with Dark Souls.
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yaswanth - October 10, 2012 9:21 a.m.

Difficult pick for me among skyrim and dark souls. Ok I will go with Skyrim.
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samsneeze - October 10, 2012 9:01 a.m.

Out of everything on the list, Dragon's Dogma and Dark Souls are the only two that immediately jump out. I'll go with Dragon's Dogma this year, simply because it was a surprisingly great game. Also, lol at Skyrim.
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Fhiend - October 10, 2012 8:03 a.m.

Going with Skyrim. I have tried to play Witcher 2 like 4 times but I just can't get into it. I didn't like Dark Souls or FF13-2. Still haven't finished ME3. Actually, the rpg I PLayed the most this year so far was......FF6.
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Szethius - October 10, 2012 7:40 a.m.

Easily Dark Souls I have to say. Difficulty, replay-ability, etc.
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BladedFalcon - October 10, 2012 5:38 a.m.

Dark Souls. Easily, and it's actually a challenging game, unlike skyrim.
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