• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Witcher 3 has won over 240 GOTY Awards so far.

Guerrilla

Member
Well deserved, it's insane a game like this can even exist. It's insane how much work and care must have went into this
 

Durante

Member
Winners of the previous years according to the site:

2003: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
2004: Half-Life 2
2005: Resident Evil 4
2006: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
2007: Bioshock
2008: Fallout 3
2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
2010: Red Dead Redemption
2011: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2012: The Walking Dead: The Game
2013: The Last of Us
2014: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Well, looking at this depressing list Witcher 3 is clearly a far better popular choice than the average.

We should be happy.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
I'm on the Bloody Baron quest. Absolutely love this game. Love it. Haven't felt this way about a western RPG since Mass Effect.

I think it's my GOTY but maybe I'm not far enough in to judge. Hope it maintains its absurdly high level of quality.
 
I'm on the Bloody Baron quest. Absolutely love this game. Love it. Haven't felt this way about a western RPG since Mass Effect.

I think it's my GOTY but maybe I'm not far enough in to judge. Hope it maintains its absurdly high level of quality.

If you're loving it now, you'll probably continue to. Its quality stays pretty consistent throughout, save for a handful of boring story missions coming up.
 

Exentryk

Member
Not that surprising that RPGs get the most GOTYs. I feel it's because (large zone / open world) RPGs are the most ambitious and have the biggest scope in all of gaming. Other (smaller) games, even when they are near perfect, just lose out because they aren't as ambitious in comparison.

I had the same when I played Ori and the Blind Forest and Witcher 3 in the same year. Ori is near perfect, with amazing gameplay, art, music and story. Yet, when I compare it with Witcher 3, which has some flaws, the scope and ambition that Witcher 3 has easily puts it above Ori.
 

Dark_castle

Junior Member
I'm on the Bloody Baron quest. Absolutely love this game. Love it. Haven't felt this way about a western RPG since Mass Effect.

I think it's my GOTY but maybe I'm not far enough in to judge. Hope it maintains its absurdly high level of quality.

TBH, for most people, the quality of quest peaks at the conclusion of Bloody Baron quest, but some of the latter ones are still quite good. Battle of
Kaer Morhen
was the absolute favorite questline for me personally.

To sweeten the deal, when RPG these days tend to get fall apart the more they approach the climax and have poor conclusion, Witcher 3's multiple endings are all very well-thought out. I myself obtained the "bad" ending, which left me absolutely stunned and devastated, but it only made me think about the impact the game left on me, and how much I love the world of Witcher which can be ruthless, where even major characters can die just like that.
 

Nightbird

Member
2536312-2379004-jeff_headshake.gif

Underrated post
 

AniHawk

Member
Yea but how similar are those rpgs? Witcher is absolutely nothing like DAI or Starwars. How similar are the FPS games? Half Life with it's physics based gameplay vs Fallout 3's sprawling open world vs Bioshock's intimate setting. RE4 with it's exploration and semi open setting vs Uncharted 2's set piece heavy campaign vs TLOU which has a ton of quiet moments and is much more grounded than both. There's a ton of variety that it's ridiculous to resent a conspiracy theory that we only like the same things.

i'm not suggesting a conspiracy theory. i don't think there's a secret cabal of games journalist who meet and decide what the anointed one will be. i'm suggesting there's a lack of variety in tastes. what you described to me was like choosing between vanilla bean, french vanilla, and country vanilla ice cream (i actually find vanilla to taste pretty good).

i think that generally, multiplatform games win because it's a lot easier to reach more people when you have something available on everything. i also think that generally, there's a tendency towards story-focused and m-rated stuff because that's what's considered to be adult and mature. it's the same reason you wouldn't see something like e.t. win film of the year. it's a gravitation towards 'how can we get others to take this seriously?' but it's always the same answer.

for the record, my last two were p.t. and gone home in 2014 and 2013 respectively. i'm no stranger to liking games with stories or if they're m-rated or made in the west. while they're both 'walking simulators', i think they each offer something pretty different, or did at the time, in terms of design. p.t. really impressed me with the halo-inspired level design.
 

Justinh

Member
Fallout 4 that high?
59B8xYt.gif


I'm just kidding. I didn't really like MGSV as much as everyone else and haven't played Bloodborne yet, but I do find it surprising I guess to see Fallout 4 get more than MGSV and Bloodborne.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
If you're loving it now, you'll probably continue to. Its quality stays pretty consistent throughout, save for a handful of boring story missions coming up.

TBH, for most people, the quality of quest peaks at the conclusion of Bloody Baron quest, but some of the latter ones are still quite good. Battle of
Kaer Morhen
was the absolute favorite questline for me personally.

To sweeten the deal, when RPG these days tend to get fall apart the more they approach the climax and have poor conclusion, Witcher 3's multiple endings are all very well-thought out. I myself obtained the "bad" ending, which left me absolutely stunned and devastated, but it only made me think about the impact the game left on me, and how much I love the world of Witcher which can be ruthless, where even major characters can die just like that.

Good to hear, guys. I love the way quests dovetail with other quests, the way they inform each other. Or the way you think you're done with a quest line, and then find it continues in another line.

I'm in awe of the quest design of this game. It reminds me of a cleverly constructed TV series where everything interlocks in surprising ways.
 
Looking at that list is pretty depressing to be honest. With the exception of Resi 4, Japanese games don't seem to stand a chance. Games like Mario Galaxy (2), Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bayonetta (2) and Bloodborne are far better to me than pretty much anything on that list. The again, even though I absolutely adore how FROM treats narrative, I'm more of a gameplay over story guy. I tend to focus on a few specific media outlets anyway, as I feel the majority of them don't have a clue.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
i'm not suggesting a conspiracy theory. i don't think there's a secret cabal of games journalist who meet and decide what the anointed one will be. i'm suggesting there's a lack of variety in tastes. what you described to me was like choosing between vanilla bean, french vanilla, and country vanilla ice cream (i actually find vanilla to taste pretty good).

i think that generally, multiplatform games win because it's a lot easier to reach more people when you have something available on everything. i also think that generally, there's a tendency towards story-focused and m-rated stuff because that's what's considered to be adult and mature. it's the same reason you wouldn't see something like e.t. win film of the year. it's a gravitation towards 'how can we get others to take this seriously?' but it's always the same answer.

for the record, my last two were p.t. and gone home in 2014 and 2013 respectively. i'm no stranger to liking games with stories or if they're m-rated or made in the west. while they're both 'walking simulators', i think they each offer something pretty different, or did at the time, in terms of design. p.t. really impressed me with the halo-inspired level design.
It's not a lack of variety if the games are so very different from each other aside from pointing out the incredibly broad genres they they're in.
 
Looking at that list is pretty depressing to be honest. With the exception of Resi 4, Japanese games don't seem to stand a chance. Games like Mario Galaxy (2), Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bayonetta (2) and Bloodborne are far better to me than pretty much anything on that list. The again, even though I absolutely adore how FROM treats narrative, I'm more of a gameplay over story guy. I tend to focus on a few specific media outlets anyway, as I feel the majority of them don't have a clue.

You shouldn't be depressed. Bloodborne has sold over 2.1 million copies. The audience for these types of experiences is there. It's never going to be as big as something like The Witcher III but that's perfectly fine.
 
Yet I can't find the interest to finish it :( I love the look of the world and all but I just cannot enjoy the setting. Sometihng about it. Maybe it's why I always loved Fallout but not TES. Maybe Cyberpunk will interest me if they put the same amount of work into it.
 

AniHawk

Member
It's not a lack of variety if the games are so very different from each other aside from pointing out the incredibly broad genres they they're in.

sure it's a lack of variety when the gaming industry encompasses so much on a yearly basis.

it'd be like if i were to have listed new super mario bros., braid, super meat boy, and rayman legends throughout the years. sure they play differently from each other, but you might note some sort of pull towards 2d platformers and question why.
 

thebloo

Member
The combat is frustratingly bad, and if you are a completionist like me, you will do shit tonnes of it. I knew what I was getting into especially since I hated Witcher 2 so I lowered the difficulty and still it frustrated me.

It's about 1000 times better than Witcher 2 though. Fucking hated that game.

Well deserved. Witcher 1 still is one of my favourite RPGs, for all it's (multiple) flaws. 2 was horrible for me, I've never forced myself to complete something like that, not enjoying any of it. Witcher 3 was great, very well crafted world and story.
 

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
I really think majority of these sites ignored Rainbow Six: Siege. It's an amazing team-based shooter. I've been playing it a lot recently and it has zoomed to the top of my GOTY list.

That said, TW3 is an amazing game and deserves all the awards. CDPR has shown other developers how to craft amazing open world games.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
sure it's a lack of variety when the gaming industry encompasses so much on a yearly basis.

it'd be like if i were to have listed new super mario bros., braid, super meat boy, and rayman legends throughout the years. sure they play differently from each other, but you might note some sort of pull towards 2d platformers and question why.
Those games are much more similar than the others because platformers are very limited in comparison to rpgs and shooters.
 

roytheone

Member
It shows that the 200 GOTY awards TLOU gots was pretty insane.

That year had a total of 522 GOTY awards counted.
Last year had 406 GOTY awards counted.
This year they are at 294 GOTY awards, so I i wouldn't be surprised if the Witcher 3 ends up passing the 200 mark too.
 

AniHawk

Member
Those games are much more similar than the others because platformers are very limited in comparison to rpgs and shooters.

i still think there's some miscommunication. it's not a matter of rpgs or platformers. it's a matter of variety. there isn't a lot of variety in the picks. you have usually a western-made game with an m-rating and that's the case for 77% of the list. what really wins is usually the thing that's serious because what media outlets want is to be taken seriously.

journey came close in 2012 and that was a much better western-made story-focused game, generally due to the experience of the journey legitimately being your own and a friend's. that's powerful, how you can communicate urgency, or happiness, or helpfulness, without dialogue. it's more impressive than yet another don't-actually-choose-your-adventure game. if we're not recognizing games like team fortress 2 in 2007 for doing one thing really fucking well, then we should at least be looking at those that are doing something unique with the medium. p.t. had a hallway with a turn, a bathroom, and an in-between room, and the game managed to be thrilling in ways i never would have expected. the design there is pretty magnificent. i can't say the same for bioshock, or fallout 3, or uncharted 2. i can say that for the last of us, but i don't think the last of us won because all the design fit together beautifully (which i think it did). i think it won because its story 'spoke to the human condition' or something like that.
 
You shouldn't be depressed. Bloodborne has sold over 2.1 million copies. The audience for these types of experiences is there. It's never going to be as big as something like The Witcher III but that's perfectly fine.

I know the audience is there, but I would like to see more critics (not just Edge and a few others) give their GotY to games that don't fit the big budget game aimed at a mass audience moniker. There's so much more to this industry. Where are the Japanese games or the indies? If I look at film lists at the end of the year, you don't see 200 awards for the same Hollywood blockbuster. How can shallow bullshit like Shadow over Mordor beat the rich mechanical intricacies of a Bayonetta 2 for example, let alone Dragon Age? Those type of games never seem to stand a chance when it comes to overall GotY picks, so kudos to the media that do dig a little deeper.
 
That year had a total of 522 GOTY awards counted.
Last year had 406 GOTY awards counted.
This year they are at 294 GOTY awards, so I i wouldn't be surprised if the Witcher 3 ends up passing the 200 mark too.

If we have 500+ awards I can see TW3 easily surpassing 200. Maybe even 250.
 
I know the audience is there, but I would like to see more critics (not just Edge and a few others) give their GotY to games that don't fit the big budget game aimed at a large audience moniker. There's so much more to this industry. Where are the Japanese games or the indies? If I look at film lists at the end of the year, you don't see 200 awards for the same Hollywood blockbuster. How can shallow bullshit like Shadow over Mordor beat the rich mechanical intricacies of a Bayonetta 2 for example, let alone Dragon Age? Those type of games never seem to stand a chance when it comes to overall GotY picks, so kudos to the media that do dig a little deeper.

Well, most gaming outlets cater towards the mainstream, so GotY picks really aren't going to change much because of that. It's unfortunate, but like you said, there are sites out there that appreciate more mechanically-driven games. I personally tend to focus on individual reviewers and their opinions.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
i still think there's some miscommunication. it's not a matter of rpgs or platformers. it's a matter of variety. there isn't a lot of variety in the picks. you have usually a western-made game with an m-rating and that's the case for 77% of the list. what really wins is usually the thing that's serious because what media outlets want is to be taken seriously.

journey came close in 2012 and that was a much better western-made story-focused game, generally due to the experience of the journey legitimately being your own and a friend's. that's powerful, how you can communicate urgency, or happiness, or helpfulness, without dialogue. it's more impressive than yet another don't-actually-choose-your-adventure game. if we're not recognizing games like team fortress 2 in 2007 for doing one thing really fucking well, then we should at least be looking at those that are doing something unique with the medium. p.t. had a hallway with a turn, a bathroom, and an in-between room, and the game managed to be thrilling in ways i never would have expected. the design there is pretty magnificent. i can't say the same for bioshock, or fallout 3, or uncharted 2. i can say that for the last of us, but i don't think the last of us won because all the design fit together beautifully (which i think it did). i think it won because its story 'spoke to the human condition' or something like that.
But that's all subjective. And again, you're heavily downplaying the sheer amount of differences between the games because they're quite dissimilar aside from being western made m-rated games. I loved Journey too but I can enjoyed WD more that year.
People have different tastes than you. To say that Bioshock, FO3, or UC2 weren't mindblowing at release or as you put it "magnificent" because it's different from something else you enjoyed is pretty ridiculous.

I know the audience is there, but I would like to see more critics (not just Edge and a few others) give their GotY to games that don't fit the big budget game aimed at a mass audience moniker. There's so much more to this industry. Where are the Japanese games or the indies? If I look at film lists at the end of the year, you don't see 200 awards for the same Hollywood blockbuster. How can shallow bullshit like Shadow over Mordor beat the rich mechanical intricacies of a Bayonetta 2 for example, let alone Dragon Age? Those type of games never seem to stand a chance when it comes to overall GotY picks, so kudos to the media that do dig a little deeper.
Why don't you actually check the source. Those games you liked won awards too. Just because they didn't win the majority doesn't mean they weren't recognized as great games.
 
But that's all subjective. And again, you're heavily downplaying the sheer amount of differences between the games because they're quite dissimilar aside from being western made m-rated games. I loved Journey too but I can enjoyed WD more that year.
People have different tastes than you. To say that Bioshock, FO3, or UC2 weren't mindblowing at release or as you put it "magnificent" because it's different from something else you enjoyed is pretty ridiculous.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see Ani saying anything of the sort. You're making it sound like he thinks those games are trash.

I completely agree with him. The gaming media is too focused on a very small subset of games each year, for the most part. That doesn't mean those games are bad.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see Ani saying anything of the sort.
. the design there is pretty magnificent. i can't say the same for bioshock, or fallout 3, or uncharted 2.
That's exactly what he said. He didn't say they were trash, but that because of their design they weren't "magnificently designed" as well as heavily downplaying the differences between the games by overgeneralizing the genres and ignoring the context of their release and gameplay. Which absolutely does not hold up under scrutiny.
 
That's exactly what he said. He didn't say they were trash, but that because of their design they weren't "magnificently designed."

Yes, he said the word "magnificent". Great. You're saying his reasoning is simply due to him not like being a big fan of those games. I'm not seeing that.

I love The Last of Us, but that doesn't change the fact that its GotY status was incredibly predictable, just by looking at the types of games that won previously.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Yes, he said the word "magnificent". Great. You're saying his reasoning is simply due to him not like being a big fan of those games. I'm not seeing that.
No i'm not saying that, i'm poking holes in the arguments he's presenting. That the games are too similar because their m-rated western games which completely ignores just how different the games are or how much variety there is.

Yes, he said the word "magnificent". Great. You're saying his reasoning is simply due to him not like being a big fan of those games. I'm not seeing that.

I love The Last of Us, but that doesn't change the fact that its GotY status was incredibly predictable, just by looking at the types of games that won previously.
The game the majority vote of the previous year was a episodic choose your own adventure game. It winning 90 more awards than GTAV is not predictable at all.
 
No i'm not saying that, i'm poking holes in the arguments he's presenting. That the games are too similar because their m-rated western games which completely ignores just how different the games are or how much variety there is.

They do have plenty of differences, yes, but they also all appeal to the exact same demographic. Imagine if 2D / 3D animated films won Best Picture at the Oscars every year. Sure, many of them are quite different from one another, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a very, very narrow view of the industry.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
They do have plenty of differences, yes, but they also all appeal to the exact same demographic. Imagine if 2D / 3D animated films won Best Picture at the Oscars every year. Sure, many of them are quite different from one another, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a very, very narrow view of the industry.
What were the demographics of the others games released in each year? And seriously people should stop presenting false equivalence as well as hypotheticals to skew the argument man. The Oscars are quite different from game awards and there are many different animated films especially if we consider 2D films like Song of the Sea or Princess Kaguya, not to mention, they get their own category, (like every game in the OP). It's literally overgeneralizing in the same way that he overgeneralizes or overemphasizes the genres.
 
Top Bottom