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GAF GOTY Game List for 2021 - check yours is included

A lot of people don't get to play a game upon its initial release, and when they play an enhanced port or something that comes out a year or 2 later, its one of their favourite experiences and they want to be able to list it. I think there isn't any harm in the way we've been doing things.
 

Cutty Flam

Banned
h4iyEul.png

Which game is this?
 
I know this is an old gaf goty rule but sometimes rules need to change/adapt and I second some of the other ppl heres opinions that with so many re-releases, remasters that simply get better textures or some shit like that is just a bit ridiculous to be eligible for voting. Remakes like dark souls is fine for example but something like GTA trilogy(i know no ones going to vote for it, should not be elligible). Doubt you're going to change the rules and its your own heavy work but just had to chime in.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
I know this is an old gaf goty rule but sometimes rules need to change/adapt and I second some of the other ppl heres opinions that with so many re-releases, remasters that simply get better textures or some shit like that is just a bit ridiculous to be eligible for voting. Remakes like dark souls is fine for example but something like GTA trilogy(i know no ones going to vote for it, should not be elligible). Doubt you're going to change the rules and its your own heavy work but just had to chime in.

I wouldn't mind but allowing low-effort remasters and not allowed early access games like Valheim is kinda bonkers. That game was more popular than most this year and was a fully playable paid game with a lot of content at launch.
 
I wouldn't mind but allowing low-effort remasters and not allowed early access games like Valheim is kinda bonkers. That game was more popular than most this year and was a fully playable paid game with a lot of content at launch.

I agree with early access. It's still a game that launched this year and should be treated as such. Once the final version is out, it should be elligible again or maybe not, theres some debate here to have.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
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Can maybe have a post mortem for next year but it's too late for this one. Any time this discussion is raised though the boundaries of eligibility can't be agreed. Is FFVII allowed but not KoA? D2R but not Nier Replicant etc.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Can maybe have a post mortem for next year but it's too late for this one. Any time this discussion is raised though the boundaries of eligibility can't be agreed. Is FFVII allowed but not KoA? D2R but not Nier Replicant etc.

I appreciate it's gotta be tough deciding firm rules for this, just suggesting things for the future. Thanks for doing it as usual.
 
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Can maybe have a post mortem for next year but it's too late for this one. Any time this discussion is raised though the boundaries of eligibility can't be agreed. Is FFVII allowed but not KoA? D2R but not Nier Replicant etc.

Ofc. We can do a poll on it next year a month before but then again, each year users change, new ppl come old ppl go, opinions change. Its a headache for sure.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
I don't know what happened here and I certainly didn't vote, but having the actual option of voting for Switch digital port of a PS4 remaster of a PS3 remaster of a PS2 title from 2001 is *chef's kiss* MY GAME OF THE YEAR 2021 IS KINGDOM HEARTS. THE ORIGINAL.

The only Ragnarok I care about in 2021 is gonna be the one equipped next to my Ars Arcanum.

The only Hades *I* give a fuck about is voiced by James Woods!

The only next gen Sephiroth *I* be fucking with is in the Olympus Coliseum!

The only Two It Takes are Donald Duck and Goofy.

The only VIIlage I'm going to is in Traverse Town.

The only...

Yeah, weird rule. I scoff at our GAF forefathers for their antiquated ideas about GotY. As a people, as a group of like minded enthusiasts, we have evolved beyond such arbitrary rulings. I say, it's time we take the GotY back. This is our vote, this is OUR list. Should we not make it the best list we can?!?!

(Props to OP, seems like a lot of work and research)
 

Notabueno

Banned
A lot of people don't get to play a game upon its initial release, and when they play an enhanced port or something that comes out a year or 2 later, its one of their favourite experiences and they want to be able to list it. I think there isn't any harm in the way we've been doing things.

Yeah but that's the thing: they're playing a game outside of it's context of release, years after, and the fact that it's their favorite experience is irrelevant.

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Can maybe have a post mortem for next year but it's too late for this one. Any time this discussion is raised though the boundaries of eligibility can't be agreed. Is FFVII allowed but not KoA? D2R but not Nier Replicant etc.

I would argue that Nier Replicant being a remake and a not remaster it qualifies since it's been release this year, while FFVII Remake was released last year and was actually qualified for 2020 GOTYs.

Then there's categorization (which vastly help sort any selections in any domains): the game re-release category, although again, remaster/port/enhances version are vastly different from a remake.
 
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DryvBy

Member
Even with a bit of a buggy server situation, Hell Let Loose is one of my favorite games this year. I've had a blast and I'm not even that big into multiplayer overall.



But as far as single player stuff, I really don't know. Maybe Lost Judgment would be it if I would finish Judgment in time to try it.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
The Game Awards selection (which users could vote for) was already a preselection based on the aggregation of the major medias, institutions and professionals juries as well as other indicators (although I didn't get an exact answer as to what they are). It is going to increasingly become the standard for the GOTY awards as more jury members are added.

That does not mean people or outlet can't do their own "best game of the year" list, but that is going to become increasingly like comparing the Oscars or Golden Globe (if a second industry standard ceremony emerges) to a media's "best movie of the year".
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Yeah but that's the thing: they're playing a game outside of it's context of release, years after, and the fact that it's their favorite experience is irrelevant.
Obviously nothing is more relevant than it being their favourite experience that year for a game of the year thread. The point of contention is whether its original release is the only year anyone should be allowed to consider it, or if the year it was released on their platform also has relevance. They're playing the game in the context of its release for them.

Maybe they're an xbox gamer who couldn't play a title formerly on playstation only and they've been waiting for it to get released on their platform. Maybe they're an FFVII fan who only plays PC games waiting for FFVIIR to come out on the platform they use. Maybe an epic games store exclusive finally becomes playable elsewhere, and it's a hit among a bunch of gaffers who don't partake in EGS. I'm hoping darkest dungeon 2 will be really good, maybe I'll love it like I did the first game, but I won't know about that until it's not an EGS exclusive, so even if it's one of my favourite games of all time, I wouldn't be able to vote for it when its released to the wider public because that will be after its earliest release. If we change the current rules, that is.

Once you get into this mentality that only the very first release of a game can be discussed, you eventually get into the territory of remakes and remasters and arguments about why for example, a 20 year old game like Diablo 2: Resurrected is or isn't allowed. Everyone is going to have different opinions about remasters or new versions. Some will say of course this one should be allowed but not that one, this person will say some game hasn't been changed enough, someone else will say it has, everyone's feelings will differ. D2R is really the same game underneath, so its real first release was 20 years ago, someone could say. Someone else might say things like being able to auto gold pick up totally changes the game in their opinion. Someone else will say it may be the same game but it's been so long many people are getting to play it for the first time with this release, someone else will say what does that have to do with anything? Opinions about eligibility will differ endlessly, but that doesn't matter if you operate with simple criteria like we have now: was the playable content released on something this year, yes or no? You can circumvent everyone's endlessly differing feelings and opinions and just go by the calendar, something you can't do if you only count first releases because different people will have different takes on whether the changes to a "Definitive Edition" or an "Enhanced Edition" or whatever it is are really enough to consider it a new experience or not.

The consequence of strictly cutting re-releases or ports or enhanced editions or whatever out of the running, is less thread participation. Fewer people will be able to vote on the smaller list of games that are eligible... Unless they are going to guess what games they expect to like the future, when it's released on their platform. And the consequence of the system we've been using isn't that skyrim will win every year, as someone joked. That's been proven to not be the case. (Skyrim wasn't even the best game the year it won GotY btw, Dark Souls came out that year.) The consequence is a bigger drop down menu to scroll through when looking for the games you played. I think that's only a bother for a short time.
 
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Because it's a sports game it'll never get the recognition it deserves, but MLB The Show once again improves on the best sports game year to year. Graphics, presentation, gameplay, content, everything.
 

Notabueno

Banned
Obviously nothing is more relevant than it being their favourite experience that year for a game of the year thread. The point of contention is whether its original release is the only year anyone should be allowed to consider it, or if the year it was released on their platform also has relevance. They're playing the game in the context of its release for them.

Maybe they're an xbox gamer who couldn't play a title formerly on playstation only and they've been waiting for it to get released on their platform. Maybe they're an FFVII fan who only plays PC games waiting for FFVIIR to come out on the platform they use. Maybe an epic games store exclusive finally becomes playable elsewhere, and it's a hit among a bunch of gaffers who don't partake in EGS. I'm hoping darkest dungeon 2 will be really good, maybe I'll love it like I did the first game, but I won't know about that until it's not an EGS exclusive, so even if it's one of my favourite games of all time, I wouldn't be able to vote for it when its released to the wider public because that will be after its earliest release. If we change the current rules, that is.

Once you get into this mentality that only the very first release of a game can be discussed, you eventually get into the territory of remakes and remasters and arguments about why for example, a 20 year old game like Diablo 2: Resurrected is or isn't allowed. Everyone is going to have different opinions about remasters or new versions. Some will say of course this one should be allowed but not that one, this person will say some game hasn't been changed enough, someone else will say it has, everyone's feelings will differ. D2R is really the same game underneath, so its real first release was 20 years ago, someone could say. Someone else might say things like being able to auto gold pick up totally changes the game in their opinion. Someone else will say it may be the same game but it's been so long many people are getting to play it for the first time with this release, someone else will say what does that have to do with anything? Opinions about eligibility will differ endlessly, but that doesn't matter if you operate with simple criteria like we have now: was the playable content released on something this year, yes or no? You can circumvent everyone's endlessly differing feelings and opinions and just go by the calendar, something you can't do if you only count first releases because different people will have different takes on whether the changes to a "Definitive Edition" or an "Enhanced Edition" or whatever it is are really enough to consider it a new experience or not.

The consequence of strictly cutting re-releases or ports or enhanced editions or whatever out of the running, is less thread participation. Fewer people will be able to vote on the smaller list of games that are eligible... Unless they are going to guess what games they expect to like the future, when it's released on their platform. And the consequence of the system we've been using isn't that skyrim will win every year, as someone joked. That's been proven to not be the case. (Skyrim wasn't even the best game the year it won GotY btw, Dark Souls came out that year.) The consequence is a bigger drop down menu to scroll through when looking for the games you played. I think that's only a bother for a short time.

All I read is "me, me, me", when what matter is the curation of the year's best productions and games (for a lot of reasons), I never vote according to my subjective taste but an objective judgement (in fact I've choose returnal several times even though I'm not a fan and barely played it, because I could however tell it was objectively great).

But on one hand we want to encourage video game conservation and "restauration", on the other hand older games should absolutely not canibilize and therefor discourage new production effort (image if GTAVI was cancelled or postponed because GTAV.5 or the horrible GTA Trilogy remasters because they were considered as new games...). So I still think having a category for game re-release like some medias or festivals do is the best solution.
 

Lupin25

Member
I don’t have an issue with the way things are cast here, but it IS somewhat confusing when the headline denotes GOTY for 2021, yet tons of people are posting year-old ports they’ve just now began.

Again, I don’t have an issue at all, but I can see why some are a little perplexed lol.

I would just erase the 2021 is simply state, “What’s the Best Game You’ve Played This Year?”
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Bit of a weird year considering that I suspect a lot of people will have been playing stuff from the year before or earlier on their new consoles due to the backlog caused by supply constraints. I'm playing Demon's Souls remake now for example because it took me til August to get a PS5 !

My GOTY: Death Stranding DC. Time and real-world events combined with the added horsepower of the new gen hardware have transformed the game for me into probably my favourite Kojima joint ever.
 
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Tams

Gold Member
I agree with early access. It's still a game that launched this year and should be treated as such. Once the final version is out, it should be elligible again or maybe not, theres some debate here to have.
I largely disagree. Not only does it make the list too big, but it allows games that have already had time to shine to push out others.

Now, there should be exceptions. Valheim is in a fully playable and enjoyable state so should be eligible this year. But unless it really takes off again another year, then it shouldn't be eligible in the future. And for games that have been remastered, then the remaster must almost be a remake to qualify; there need to be good large and significant changes and for it to be decently popular. If the GTA Trilogy had actually released as something good then it might have qualified.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Updated up to here, only a few days left before pulling

Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

I mean that is just not fair. It is going to split the votes between an expansion and the core game.

In cases like that we usually combine, or I can remove FF XIV Vanilla (but then we use that for the supported game)
 
All I read is "me, me, me", when what matter is the curation of the year's best productions and games (for a lot of reasons), I never vote according to my subjective taste but an objective judgement (in fact I've choose returnal several times even though I'm not a fan and barely played it, because I could however tell it was objectively great).
I was initially insulted by the "mememe" bit, but when you said you're voting for a game you've barely played and don't like because you can tell that it's objectively great, I got over it. Please play games thoroughly before making a judgment or you are not helping curate the year's best products at all.

But on one hand we want to encourage video game conservation and "restauration", on the other hand older games should absolutely not canibilize and therefor discourage new production effort (image if GTAVI was cancelled or postponed because GTAV.5 or the horrible GTA Trilogy remasters because they were considered as new games...). So I still think having a category for game re-release like some medias or festivals do is the best solution.
But the point of what I said is they don't cannablize it with the system we have now. An old game hasn't won game of the year, almost certainly never will, and if it did, it would have to be so shockingly improved/expanded that it probably should. As things are, if a remaster or enhanced edition is particularly good people can learn about that when it pops up somewhere in multiple people's lists. If there was a different category for ports/remasters/enhanced editions, that would only measure them against other such titles, not how they good they are compared to all content released that year.
 

Notabueno

Banned
I was initially insulted by the "mememe" bit, but when you said you're voting for a game you've barely played and don't like because you can tell that it's objectively great, I got over it. Please play games thoroughly before making a judgment or you are not helping curate the year's best products at all.


But the point of what I said is they don't cannablize it with the system we have now. An old game hasn't won game of the year, almost certainly never will, and if it did, it would have to be so shockingly improved/expanded that it probably should. As things are, if a remaster or enhanced edition is particularly good people can learn about that when it pops up somewhere in multiple people's lists. If there was a different category for ports/remasters/enhanced editions, that would only measure them against other such titles, not how they good they are compared to all content released that year.

The point was: even I played Returnal, didn't necessarily liked it, I would still judge it objectively as I always do and vote for it if it deserved it, rather than from my own subjective perspective.

Otherwise, one point I haven't mentioned and is always important in cultural history and histrionics, is the context. The Super Nintendo is still to this day, the best console ever released. Why? Because you don't compare a PS5 to a PS2 in the PS5's context (today) the same way you don't compare Battlefield V with Battlefield MW3 in a Battlefield MW3's context. You can only judge and compare items by putting them in their respective context.

So the thing is that GTA 3,VC & SA were released 2 decades ago. No matter how much they remaster or enhance it, there is not comparison to be done with GTAV.5. Rather you have to compare how GTA 3 fared in it's own context, how great, how innovative, how well conceived it was within it's context compared to how GTAV was critically received and judged in it's own context. And that's how you can establish whether GTA 3 is, overall, better than GTA V or vice versa.

In this case, yes we can compare game released 10 years ago to game today but...outside of the context of a current year's award
 
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