It's crazy to me that Tears of the Kingdom, an absolute triumph of gameplay and programming efficiency, and a game I spent hundreds of hours playing this year, won't win the top title. Because BG3...
It's crazy to me that Tears of the Kingdom, an absolute triumph of gameplay and programming efficiency, and a game I spent hundreds of hours playing this year, won't win the top title.
Because BG3 absolutely deserves it more. What an incredible year.
I'm surprised to see Advanced Wars: Reboot Camp nominated. I know it won't win, but I really hope it does 😄 I really hope PMG wins though. Their videos are well done with some good journalism...
I'm surprised to see Advanced Wars: Reboot Camp nominated. I know it won't win, but I really hope it does 😄
I really hope PMG wins though. Their videos are well done with some good journalism behind them. They go for quality over quantity and I love that. It would be great for them to get some recognition.
Baldur's Gate 3 deserves every win it gets. I don't even like that genre and I'm absolutely obsessed with BG3. Rarely does a game have so much depth and replayability. Tears of the Kingdom also...
Baldur's Gate 3 deserves every win it gets.
I don't even like that genre and I'm absolutely obsessed with BG3. Rarely does a game have so much depth and replayability.
If my count is correct, Alan Wake II seems to have tied Baldur's Gate 3 for most category nominations (8). This despite it: Being exclusive to Epic Games Store on PC Only having come out less than...
If my count is correct, Alan Wake II seems to have tied Baldur's Gate 3 for most category nominations (8). This despite it:
It won't come to Steam, as the game was actually published by Epic. This is in contrast to other EGS exclusives, where Epic buys timed exclusivity from a third party publisher. It was a similar...
It won't come to Steam, as the game was actually published by Epic.
This is in contrast to other EGS exclusives, where Epic buys timed exclusivity from a third party publisher.
It was a similar story with the Alan Wake 1 remaster, which is still not on Steam.
It may be worth noting that AW2 is effectively DRM-free when -EpicPortal is passed as a command line argument.
Not only published, Epic actually funded the game development entirely. Which isn't the norm for third-party published games. According to Sam Lake they were very happy to let him make the game he...
Not only published, Epic actually funded the game development entirely. Which isn't the norm for third-party published games.
According to Sam Lake they were very happy to let him make the game he wanted, which is nice to see.
I'm not going to lie I have plenty of opinions on how Epic conducts their business, but in this scenario they have acted like a great publisher.
I've heard that as well. It's the only case so far where I'm not bothering to wait for a Steam release. I don't mind Epic making their own games exclusive to their launcher, I only take issue with...
I've heard that as well. It's the only case so far where I'm not bothering to wait for a Steam release. I don't mind Epic making their own games exclusive to their launcher, I only take issue with them buying exclusivity of already finished games just to annoy me.
I completely agree. I have no problem using any other launcher, but I won't use EGS due to their anti-Steam approach. I am all for competition but Tim (Epic CEO) is acting like a child. The way he...
I completely agree. I have no problem using any other launcher, but I won't use EGS due to their anti-Steam approach. I am all for competition but Tim (Epic CEO) is acting like a child. The way he talks about Steam is almost like how Trump talks about his competition, he's acting like a victim that is trying to save the world when in reality he is just upset that someone other than him is making money.
Can’t say I’m terribly happy. Epic’s Linux support is dogshit, so this means that if I want to play either of the new Alan Wake games I now have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get it working...
Can’t say I’m terribly happy. Epic’s Linux support is dogshit, so this means that if I want to play either of the new Alan Wake games I now have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get it working again. No thanks.
Completely valid opinion, I agree. While I do think the Epic+AW2 scenario in isolation has been handled quite well, they have burned too many bridges with me that it does not matter.
Completely valid opinion, I agree.
While I do think the Epic+AW2 scenario in isolation has been handled quite well, they have burned too many bridges with me that it does not matter.
I wish the console release got a disc version! BG3 on console didn't get one either! Having 2 GOTY nominees in 1 year go digital only is a very bad sign.
I wish the console release got a disc version! BG3 on console didn't get one either! Having 2 GOTY nominees in 1 year go digital only is a very bad sign.
As much as I absolutely loved Tears of the Kingdom being a huge Zelda fan. In my opinion, it's not just a perfection of the Zelda formula but an expansion of that formula as well I don't expect it...
As much as I absolutely loved Tears of the Kingdom being a huge Zelda fan. In my opinion, it's not just a perfection of the Zelda formula but an expansion of that formula as well I don't expect it to win GOTY. But that's because Baldurs Gate 3 is a better game in my opinion and that's crazy to me, that there can be two games in the one year that are probably now in my top ten of all time, what an absolutely amazing year for the medium.
GOTY seems largely fair in terms of its nominations, though I have to say putting a game that's just over two weeks old (Alan Wake 2) on there is a strange choice, as is putting it in for so many...
GOTY seems largely fair in terms of its nominations, though I have to say putting a game that's just over two weeks old (Alan Wake 2) on there is a strange choice, as is putting it in for so many categories as well. Also rather disappointed Hi-Fi Rush isn't on there, that was my personal GOTY, but good to see it got a few nominations for other categories.
All the picks on there, even Alan Wake 2 (such a new game) and Resident Evil 4 Remake (a remake), feel justified. The 1 thing I'm shocked about is the lack of any token indie title like Hi-Fi...
All the picks on there, even Alan Wake 2 (such a new game) and Resident Evil 4 Remake (a remake), feel justified. The 1 thing I'm shocked about is the lack of any token indie title like Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Stars, etc. There's been at least 1 on the list ever since I started paying attention to GOTY. This year was completely packed with GOTY worthy games tho, like 10 of them could easily win if they came out on a dryer year.
Starfield only got nominated for "Best RPG?!" I would've hoped for a GOTY competition. I get it is a controversial game, but I thought it would've gotten a nomination. That said, BG3 might, and...
Starfield only got nominated for "Best RPG?!" I would've hoped for a GOTY competition. I get it is a controversial game, but I thought it would've gotten a nomination.
That said, BG3 might, and probably should, clean out its categories. It feels like a perfection of the CRPG genre in terms of conceptual accessibility and mechanical depth, as well as having a great story (so far in my bit of Act I).
That "best RPG" category feels pretty stacked against Starfield as well. Regardless of if you think Starfield is a better game, I definitely wouldn't call it a better RPG than a more RPG-ish RPG...
That "best RPG" category feels pretty stacked against Starfield as well. Regardless of if you think Starfield is a better game, I definitely wouldn't call it a better RPG than a more RPG-ish RPG like Baldur's Gate or Sea of Stars.
I'd say they're different genres of RPG. The competition is still valid as the core is the same, even if my preferences are at a disadvantage. Thinking more about it, even as a raving Starfield...
I'd say they're different genres of RPG. The competition is still valid as the core is the same, even if my preferences are at a disadvantage.
Thinking more about it, even as a raving Starfield fanboy, and checking the last two years, I don't think it would've even beaten Elden Ring. My opinion has been tempered significantly.
I feel like RPGs, especially CRPGs, are making a comeback, but I'm also relatively new to paying close attention to the genre. There seem to be more than ever though.
I think that this is the first time that I seen anywhere that Starfield gets compared to Fallout, I have seen it being called Skyrim in space. And frankly from what I have seen online about the...
The game seemed to essentially just be Fallout in space.
I think that this is the first time that I seen anywhere that Starfield gets compared to Fallout, I have seen it being called Skyrim in space. And frankly from what I have seen online about the game that comparison is not far from it. Mostly because of the dragonborn like powers that you get in the game. It is mostly boils down to the fact the game that was released before Starfield was a re-release of Skyrim.
Usually these sprawling RPG games like Fallout 4, Cyberpunk, and Baldurs Gate have tons of chatter about all the cool places to visit or interesting characters, and I have seen none of that on Starfield.
Same, Bethesda somehow made space boring. They could have made something interesting but they made another Skyrim. And the fact that Bethesda refuses to have what seems to have more than four different voice actors for their games, also plays against it.
tbf I’ve played a ton of Starfield and have made it quite far without ever using my source-Dragonborn powers, they could have been cooler/more useful/integral in any way.
tbf I’ve played a ton of Starfield and have made it quite far without ever using my source-Dragonborn powers, they could have been cooler/more useful/integral in any way.
They really do belong in a game like Skyrim. Like you, I have not played the game, but to an person that seen some videos on the game (and had some interest in the game, but the interest went...
Like you, I have not played the game, but to an person that seen some videos on the game (and had some interest in the game, but the interest went away), the powers makes no sense, in the fact that you are literately the only person running around with them. If they had put in the generic psyker (like any other scifi game) as a minor faction, it would have made more sense to have included the powers and if the psyker faction had the player as a messiah-type of importance to them, thus they allowed the player a way to learn new powers or told them how to gain them through quest lines for the different powers.
I lived under my own rock, tbh and love the hell out of Starfield, but looking out from my cave I keep seeing evidence of what you describe. I feel I've become something of a fanboy of Bethesda...
I lived under my own rock, tbh and love the hell out of Starfield, but looking out from my cave I keep seeing evidence of what you describe. I feel I've become something of a fanboy of Bethesda RPGs and may have cast my lot in too deep here.
I will say there are great locations I won't list off for spoilers, but there are unique bases, events, and areas that really do instill a sense of grandeur. It's not all repetative POIs, even if it mostly is. The biggest issue is that it's rather sterile, but with an excellent combination of all of Bethesda's game mechanics.
But it definitely pales next to Baldurs Gate III, in which I was throwing goblins at each other and off a bridge, with a large list of romanceable characters of various alignments, backgrounds, and individual circumstances, and so much story you have to read outside of the game to catch up (honestly BG3's one weakness). I'm sure you've seen my other comments where I've come to understand where Starfield sits.
Maybe I'm biased as a NA Valorant fan but it HAS to be Potter right? She took a Valorant team that everyone clowned on, and took them to the trophy, benching their best at the time player. What an...
Maybe I'm biased as a NA Valorant fan but it HAS to be Potter right? She took a Valorant team that everyone clowned on, and took them to the trophy, benching their best at the time player. What an incredible run.
What do people make of the "best ongoing game" category? I'm going back and forth on whether games that were broken at launch and fixed over time should be included with live service games, though...
What do people make of the "best ongoing game" category? I'm going back and forth on whether games that were broken at launch and fixed over time should be included with live service games, though I don't think either of those things should be celebrated with a category, honestly.
I also hate the "most anticipated game" category. I honestly think it should have died with the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, but it's still around, still offering up an award for whatever company spent the most on marketing. I just don't understand why I should care.
On another note, I appreciate some of the categories they've added. Innovation in accessibility is a fantastic category, both for celebrating positive change in the industry and for being a category that is specific to games. Most of the categories scream "we're the Oscars but video games," so categories like this are a step in the right direction. Similarly "games for impact" is a good category, and I wish there was a larger push within the Game Awards to get away from the industry bullshit, though that's never going to happen as long as it's just a platform for showing new trailers.
So there isnt a indie goty nominee - what would your indie game of the year be? (i tend to ignore the big boys maybe will play BG3 one day... when i have the hd space.)
So there isnt a indie goty nominee - what would your indie game of the year be? (i tend to ignore the big boys maybe will play BG3 one day... when i have the hd space.)
Bomb Rush was very cool for sure, but my personal indie game of the year would be Cocoon. It was genius. Killer Frequency was fun too, but also dumb as hell.
Bomb Rush was very cool for sure, but my personal indie game of the year would be Cocoon. It was genius.
Killer Frequency was fun too, but also dumb as hell.
I haven't been gaming much this year as pretty much all my leisure time has been spent on TTRPGs, but I thought it notable that every single nomination for GOTY and many of the other categories...
I haven't been gaming much this year as pretty much all my leisure time has been spent on TTRPGs, but I thought it notable that every single nomination for GOTY and many of the other categories were sequels. Don't get me wrong, every game on that list deserves the praise, but they're also all iterative.
AC6 is my personal goty because I really loved the combat, but I think it's getting fairly rated. Everything is well done, but limited in scope. It looks good, but I think only the boss fights...
AC6 is my personal goty because I really loved the combat, but I think it's getting fairly rated. Everything is well done, but limited in scope. It looks good, but I think only the boss fights have anything really crazy looking. There is a lot of reused locations, and the mook enemies are pretty forgettable. I think the story and voice acting are good, but there is significantly less of it in comparison to the story driven games that are nominated. For the audio based awards, I don't think its score really beats anything there. I do think the audio design is a snub though, the warning pings your AC gives you are a super vital part of your experience. (I think the whole HUD is masterfully designed) Then there is a whole bunch of awards it just doesn't qualify for because genre or whatever.
Overall it could have qualified for 9 of 31 categories, and it qualified for the one it absolutely kicks ass in. Which I think is good enough.
It's crazy to me that Tears of the Kingdom, an absolute triumph of gameplay and programming efficiency, and a game I spent hundreds of hours playing this year, won't win the top title.
Because BG3 absolutely deserves it more. What an incredible year.
I'm surprised to see Advanced Wars: Reboot Camp nominated. I know it won't win, but I really hope it does 😄
I really hope PMG wins though. Their videos are well done with some good journalism behind them. They go for quality over quantity and I love that. It would be great for them to get some recognition.
Baldur's Gate 3 deserves every win it gets.
I don't even like that genre and I'm absolutely obsessed with BG3. Rarely does a game have so much depth and replayability.
Tears of the Kingdom also deserves a lot of love.
If my count is correct, Alan Wake II seems to have tied Baldur's Gate 3 for most category nominations (8). This despite it:
I'm keen to pick AW2 up when it comes to Steam, or GOG, but I won't be giving Epic my money.
It won't come to Steam, as the game was actually published by Epic.
This is in contrast to other EGS exclusives, where Epic buys timed exclusivity from a third party publisher.
It was a similar story with the Alan Wake 1 remaster, which is still not on Steam.
It may be worth noting that AW2 is effectively DRM-free when
-EpicPortalis passed as a command line argument.Not only published, Epic actually funded the game development entirely. Which isn't the norm for third-party published games.
According to Sam Lake they were very happy to let him make the game he wanted, which is nice to see.
I'm not going to lie I have plenty of opinions on how Epic conducts their business, but in this scenario they have acted like a great publisher.
I've heard that as well. It's the only case so far where I'm not bothering to wait for a Steam release. I don't mind Epic making their own games exclusive to their launcher, I only take issue with them buying exclusivity of already finished games just to annoy me.
I completely agree. I have no problem using any other launcher, but I won't use EGS due to their anti-Steam approach. I am all for competition but Tim (Epic CEO) is acting like a child. The way he talks about Steam is almost like how Trump talks about his competition, he's acting like a victim that is trying to save the world when in reality he is just upset that someone other than him is making money.
Can’t say I’m terribly happy. Epic’s Linux support is dogshit, so this means that if I want to play either of the new Alan Wake games I now have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get it working again. No thanks.
Completely valid opinion, I agree.
While I do think the Epic+AW2 scenario in isolation has been handled quite well, they have burned too many bridges with me that it does not matter.
I wish the console release got a disc version! BG3 on console didn't get one either! Having 2 GOTY nominees in 1 year go digital only is a very bad sign.
As much as I absolutely loved Tears of the Kingdom being a huge Zelda fan. In my opinion, it's not just a perfection of the Zelda formula but an expansion of that formula as well I don't expect it to win GOTY. But that's because Baldurs Gate 3 is a better game in my opinion and that's crazy to me, that there can be two games in the one year that are probably now in my top ten of all time, what an absolutely amazing year for the medium.
GOTY seems largely fair in terms of its nominations, though I have to say putting a game that's just over two weeks old (Alan Wake 2) on there is a strange choice, as is putting it in for so many categories as well. Also rather disappointed Hi-Fi Rush isn't on there, that was my personal GOTY, but good to see it got a few nominations for other categories.
All the picks on there, even Alan Wake 2 (such a new game) and Resident Evil 4 Remake (a remake), feel justified. The 1 thing I'm shocked about is the lack of any token indie title like Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Stars, etc. There's been at least 1 on the list ever since I started paying attention to GOTY. This year was completely packed with GOTY worthy games tho, like 10 of them could easily win if they came out on a dryer year.
Me too, and I'm looking forward to foaming at the mouth while it gets screwed out of every single category it's in!
Starfield only got nominated for "Best RPG?!" I would've hoped for a GOTY competition. I get it is a controversial game, but I thought it would've gotten a nomination.
That said, BG3 might, and probably should, clean out its categories. It feels like a perfection of the CRPG genre in terms of conceptual accessibility and mechanical depth, as well as having a great story (so far in my bit of Act I).
That "best RPG" category feels pretty stacked against Starfield as well. Regardless of if you think Starfield is a better game, I definitely wouldn't call it a better RPG than a more RPG-ish RPG like Baldur's Gate or Sea of Stars.
I'd say they're different genres of RPG. The competition is still valid as the core is the same, even if my preferences are at a disadvantage.
Thinking more about it, even as a raving Starfield fanboy, and checking the last two years, I don't think it would've even beaten Elden Ring. My opinion has been tempered significantly.
I feel like RPGs, especially CRPGs, are making a comeback, but I'm also relatively new to paying close attention to the genre. There seem to be more than ever though.
I think that this is the first time that I seen anywhere that Starfield gets compared to Fallout, I have seen it being called Skyrim in space. And frankly from what I have seen online about the game that comparison is not far from it. Mostly because of the dragonborn like powers that you get in the game. It is mostly boils down to the fact the game that was released before Starfield was a re-release of Skyrim.
Same, Bethesda somehow made space boring. They could have made something interesting but they made another Skyrim. And the fact that Bethesda refuses to have what seems to have more than four different voice actors for their games, also plays against it.
tbf I’ve played a ton of Starfield and have made it quite far without ever using my source-Dragonborn powers, they could have been cooler/more useful/integral in any way.
They really do belong in a game like Skyrim.
Like you, I have not played the game, but to an person that seen some videos on the game (and had some interest in the game, but the interest went away), the powers makes no sense, in the fact that you are literately the only person running around with them. If they had put in the generic psyker (like any other scifi game) as a minor faction, it would have made more sense to have included the powers and if the psyker faction had the player as a messiah-type of importance to them, thus they allowed the player a way to learn new powers or told them how to gain them through quest lines for the different powers.
I lived under my own rock, tbh and love the hell out of Starfield, but looking out from my cave I keep seeing evidence of what you describe. I feel I've become something of a fanboy of Bethesda RPGs and may have cast my lot in too deep here.
I will say there are great locations I won't list off for spoilers, but there are unique bases, events, and areas that really do instill a sense of grandeur. It's not all repetative POIs, even if it mostly is. The biggest issue is that it's rather sterile, but with an excellent combination of all of Bethesda's game mechanics.
But it definitely pales next to Baldurs Gate III, in which I was throwing goblins at each other and off a bridge, with a large list of romanceable characters of various alignments, backgrounds, and individual circumstances, and so much story you have to read outside of the game to catch up (honestly BG3's one weakness). I'm sure you've seen my other comments where I've come to understand where Starfield sits.
The reaction of a coach on the Best Esports Coach list. He's not wrong, as a CS fan he hasn't done anything notable this year.
Maybe I'm biased as a NA Valorant fan but it HAS to be Potter right? She took a Valorant team that everyone clowned on, and took them to the trophy, benching their best at the time player. What an incredible run.
What do people make of the "best ongoing game" category? I'm going back and forth on whether games that were broken at launch and fixed over time should be included with live service games, though I don't think either of those things should be celebrated with a category, honestly.
I also hate the "most anticipated game" category. I honestly think it should have died with the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, but it's still around, still offering up an award for whatever company spent the most on marketing. I just don't understand why I should care.
On another note, I appreciate some of the categories they've added. Innovation in accessibility is a fantastic category, both for celebrating positive change in the industry and for being a category that is specific to games. Most of the categories scream "we're the Oscars but video games," so categories like this are a step in the right direction. Similarly "games for impact" is a good category, and I wish there was a larger push within the Game Awards to get away from the industry bullshit, though that's never going to happen as long as it's just a platform for showing new trailers.
Damn, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk didn't get nominated for anything.
So there isnt a indie goty nominee - what would your indie game of the year be? (i tend to ignore the big boys maybe will play BG3 one day... when i have the hd space.)
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk.
Bomb Rush was very cool for sure, but my personal indie game of the year would be Cocoon. It was genius.
Killer Frequency was fun too, but also dumb as hell.
I haven't been gaming much this year as pretty much all my leisure time has been spent on TTRPGs, but I thought it notable that every single nomination for GOTY and many of the other categories were sequels. Don't get me wrong, every game on that list deserves the praise, but they're also all iterative.
AC6 is my personal goty because I really loved the combat, but I think it's getting fairly rated. Everything is well done, but limited in scope. It looks good, but I think only the boss fights have anything really crazy looking. There is a lot of reused locations, and the mook enemies are pretty forgettable. I think the story and voice acting are good, but there is significantly less of it in comparison to the story driven games that are nominated. For the audio based awards, I don't think its score really beats anything there. I do think the audio design is a snub though, the warning pings your AC gives you are a super vital part of your experience. (I think the whole HUD is masterfully designed) Then there is a whole bunch of awards it just doesn't qualify for because genre or whatever.
Overall it could have qualified for 9 of 31 categories, and it qualified for the one it absolutely kicks ass in. Which I think is good enough.