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God of War wins Game of the Year at 2019 GDC Awards

nani17

are in a big trouble
SOURCE

God of War has now won Game Of The Year at

GDC
D.I.C.E
THE GAME AWARDS
BAFTA'S
GOLDEN JOYSTICKS
NEW YORK GAME AWARDS
SXSW

and many more other awards

The reason I'm posting this is that EA once said single player games are dead. Also zero microtransaction and no online.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
People are still giving out 2018 GOTY awards? We're almost a quarter done with 2019, what's the point?
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
GDC is held every March?

Sure is, doesn't mean they need to do an awards thing. Just seems silly to me to bother so far past 2018, but hey, these things are silly anyway.
 

odd_hatch

Member
Finished the game. Enjoyed it.

Was a good 7/10 for me.

Won't give it more because linear / semi-linear games are not my thing, but I respect how well crafted the world is.
 

MDSLKTR

Member
I hope this doesnt get to Cory's head... Who am i kidding lol. As long as they are aware of what needs to be fixed for the sequel.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Sure is, doesn't mean they need to do an awards thing. Just seems silly to me to bother so far past 2018, but hey, these things are silly anyway.

Same thing happens with Hollywood with their 30 different award shows for the previous year's films.

These are the developers in the industry voting and it's only March.
 

thelastword

Banned
I'm more hyped for GOW 2 under Cory, if you thought the first game was GOTY material, Barlog is gonna blow minds with GOW2 on a PS5...
 

thelastword

Banned
I have a dreadful feeling it may go more open world, and that would be detrimental.
We did not visit Asgard, Vanaheim, Svartalfheim in GOW......Asgard alone should be huge and full of adventures and of course the other two, but I have a feeling we might be visiting other places too and perhaps return to some of the worlds we've visited before. Things could change with these worlds as we remember them from the current installment...How about a different take or adventure in Muspelheim instead of just trials or a differnt adventure going through Nilfheim instead of just hunting for equipment and items........That big bird in Helheim, I'm sure we'll battle that or it's critical to the next adventure....I think they can still use the same hub world tbh, but of course just go nuts on the adventures that awaits there, including bosses and enemies that you will face.....
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
GOW is the sort of game that developers admire. Its crafting is in a word, exquisite.

Its hard to explain, because its not just the technical and artistic qualities that make it special. Its the flow, the balance of elements, the way the density of content is tuned to keep you interested but never overwhelmed. The sort of things that everyone making games aspires to get right, but rarely quite manages to, because its not something that's evident from a design document.
 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
First three God of War games ripe with misogyny and overly violent content were actually funny as hell. REAL trash entertainment, Kratos is an angry man baby and it's great.

When it first got announced I just had to ask "Why?" & called it God of Soy and roasted it like a lot of people did. Played it a few months ago... It's the best one by far, the combat is actually REAL fucking good.

The last Western developed game where I was playing it at climax and was like "This is amazing." Was when Tears plays in Max Payne 3 at the airport shoot out. This game did it again when you are fighting the final boss... A mother who wants to protect her child more than anything & a man who wants to give his son a future. It's done so well.

Tl;dr game is fire and I was wrong to think it was gonna be bad when it was first announced.
 
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I was just disappointed it held so much back from Norse mythology, the original God of War hit all the right notes of what you'd want to see from Greek mythology even if some things were only glimpsed.

God of War 2018 on the other hand saves a lot for future sequels, it's a great game but I would have liked a little more variety in the places you visit, I got pretty sick of the Lake of Nine by the end of the game.

I did love though how it expanded the world of God of War though to include not just Norse but other Pantheons as well, that was really surprising and unexpected.

And yes, the combat was excellent, pulling a finishing move with the axe on enemies was immensely satisfying.
 

bitbydeath

Member
The combat really made the game and added more dimensions than switching to a semi-open world.

But it’s not without its flaws, lack of bosses, gore, titties and extravagant settings.
 

Fbh

Member
The game was fantastic so this is well deserved.
Can't wait to see what they will do next gen
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I hope this doesnt get to Cory's head... Who am i kidding lol. As long as they are aware of what needs to be fixed for the sequel.

Cory comes off as a pretty humble guy. It's also not his first award-winning game mentioned above.

If anything, that's extra pressure on him to push hard to top this one.
 
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thelastword

Banned
I hope this doesnt get to Cory's head... Who am i kidding lol. As long as they are aware of what needs to be fixed for the sequel.
There's a reason so many were so happy when they heard Barlog was back at Sony to do GOW.......I think they had good reasons to take a break tbh.....Apparently making such epic games takes alot out of you and both Jaffe and Barlog needed some space and room to breathe.....Don't forget Barlog did GOW2, so he already had a highly rated game, I just know that his second time around with the reboot, he is just going to go gangbusters.......and go all out.... I can even call it now, he may take a break after GOW2 and let Stig come back for the third...........
 

Shy Fingers

Banned
Amazing game, basically played it non-stop until completion outside of work... and yes sleep suffered.

Only thing is, I want to see all those other realms! So much DLC potential wasted. Why make me scroll past them if they'll never become available?!
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Amazing game, basically played it non-stop until completion outside of work... and yes sleep suffered.

Only thing is, I want to see all those other realms! So much DLC potential wasted. Why make me scroll past them if they'll never become available?!

They probably had plans but needed to trim them (the game was massive as is), and more than likely we're going to see them in the sequel, rather than DLC that would hit more limited in sales.

I would have loved DLC as well, but having them fully fleshed-out in a sequel will be great too.
 

Shy Fingers

Banned
They probably had plans but needed to trim them (the game was massive as is), and more than likely we're going to see them in the sequel, rather than DLC that would hit more limited in sales.

I would have loved DLC as well, but having them fully fleshed-out in a sequel will be great too.
Not going to argue, I grinned ear to ear when Hallow Knight's DLC went from Hornet expansion to full blown sequel. I'd love that for here too
 

nowhat

Member
They probably had plans but needed to trim them (the game was massive as is), and more than likely we're going to see them in the sequel, rather than DLC that would hit more limited in sales.

I would have loved DLC as well, but having them fully fleshed-out in a sequel will be great too.
I can't be arsed right now to google what interview/Youtube video it was (something with Cory at any rate) so you'll have to take my word for it, but he said he indeed had DLC plans. But pretty soon the team had to say "whoa there buddy", it would have been so large that it could have been a game of its own.

...which is to say, I'm waiting for a sequel too. But somehow I find it really great that the GOTY darling of last year is a single-player game with no added monetization whatsoever. You buy the game, you play the game, that's it. Bonus points for being in a really solid technical state at launch.
 

odd_hatch

Member
I have a dreadful feeling it may go more open world, and that would be detrimental.
I have yet to hear a good argument how less options is a good thing.

What I can muster from my experience is that barren / uninspiring open worlds are clearly inferior to well crafted linear games but, a dynamic open world experience where everything doesn't feel the same and you're also not doing endless repetitive mini-tasks will always be a better experience.
I have a massive aversion when the game forces you to do something their way and that happens way more in linear games. Especially when you see the game creating invisible walls to force you go down path A.
 

scalman

Member
still on my list of 2 last ps4 games that i didnt played. this and spiderman. and nothing else is left there exclusive.
 
Cory comes off as a pretty humble guy. It's also not his first award-winning game mentioned above.

If anything, that's extra pressure on him to push hard to top this one.

It won't be hard to top it, bring in Asgard, Valhalla, Odin and Thor and you got a stew going!

I think it's kinda BS we didn't glimpse Asgard at the end like we glimpsed Olympus at the end of God of War 1.
 

Shmunter

Member
I have yet to hear a good argument how less options is a good thing.

What I can muster from my experience is that barren / uninspiring open worlds are clearly inferior to well crafted linear games but, a dynamic open world experience where everything doesn't feel the same and you're also not doing endless repetitive mini-tasks will always be a better experience.
I have a massive aversion when the game forces you to do something their way and that happens way more in linear games. Especially when you see the game creating invisible walls to force you go down path A.

Here’s my argument. An open world by its nature is to have the player not only backtrack, but sidetrack, uptrek and downtrek.

No possibility for fine tuned story pacing, the stories generally devolve into a forgettable second class citizen to the game. The main tale lacks significant gravitas when your off collecting forest berries in the middle of the perilous saving the princess mainline. It makes no sense.

Open worlds need to justify their existence to be explored, often with meaningless fetch quests and other repetitive tasks because budgets cannot craft limitless interactions. Busywork for people with more time on their hands than most grownups can dream off.

And worse, modern open world games are deliberately roadblocking progress to keep you within their GaaS eco system for as many hours as possible.

For gamers that want a solid and memorable narrative experience, open world games do not stand up.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
It won't be hard to top it, bring in Asgard, Valhalla, Odin and Thor and you got a stew going!

I think it's kinda BS we didn't glimpse Asgard at the end like we glimpsed Olympus at the end of God of War 1.

True, but we got
a glimpse of Thor and Mjölnir which was pretty damn dope in the epilogue and had a comic book feel to it.

I'm definitely stoked to see their rendition of Asgard, and probably on the PS5 too.
 

nowhat

Member
For gamers that want a solid and memorable narrative experience, open world games do not stand up.
Agreed 100% with what you wrote. I really liked how GoW is designed - there is a set path for the player to follow and narrative imperative for doing so. But the game also allows you to explore at your own leisure if you're so inclined - not in an open world, let alone the largest one ever, but across a limited amount of distinct and meticulously crafted environments. And there's incentive for doing that too, I don't think you can reach both (or either? it's been a while) of the two optional realms without going off the story path.
 

odd_hatch

Member
Here’s my argument. An open world by its nature is to have the player not only backtrack, but sidetrack, uptrek and downtrek.

(1)No possibility for fine tuned story pacing, the stories generally devolve into a forgettable second class citizen to the game. The main tale lacks significant gravitas when your off collecting forest berries in the middle of the perilous saving the princess mainline. It makes no sense.

(2)Open worlds need to justify their existence to be explored, often with meaningless fetch quests and other repetitive tasks because budgets (3)cannot craft limitless interactions. Busywork for people with more time on their hands than most grownups can dream off.

And worse, modern open world games are (4)deliberately roadblocking progress to keep you within their GaaS eco system for as many hours as possible.

For gamers that want a solid and memorable narrative experience, open world games do not stand up.
1. This is not always the case. Maybe it's because I didn't play enough open world games (because not all appeal to me) but, if the game is well thought out you can avoid do time consuming stuff and you can walk in a straight line to the next cutscene just like a linear game.

Some open world games, like GTA, don't follow that concept. I suppose they want you to cause mayhem in-between your "missions" that together somehow follow a "story". Those kinds of open world games are not what I would consider ideal as most of the world is just fluff. I remember being disapointed about that characteristic of open world games as I grew up because I had envisioned that complete immersion was going to be the next thing, meaning, every house, every shop, every person could be interacted with and almost everything was relevant to the story, or even just plain fun to interact with. What I got in GTA5 for example was a bunch of houses where you couldn't access and a zillion people you couldn't interact in a non-violent manner and you had to drive your car for a long time to get to the next mission. Needless to say GTA5, despite it being the "best game" according to the populace it was incredibly mediocre to me.

2. Sometimes it just means more space to move around and choose where to go instead of following a precise line. One thing that frustrates me in linear games are invisible walls and areas you can't reach.

It's also frustrating when you see a path that isn't the prescribed one, for example in Tomb Raider. You know it would be faster and safer the way, but the game only allows you to climb where the white patches are. I would prefer that they developed a climbing system that allowed me to interact with every object in the world, especially in a climbing/platformer game.

3. What if technology soon allowed for that to be possible, would you be interested? Like AI based game creation that is not bland and clearly generated. Or even AI driven characters with their own responses and personalities?

4. I also hate this. Unless I'm having loads of fun and allows me to ignore the fact I can't go to place X or mission Y yet.

Edit: Would like to add that I absolutely hated how GOW roadblocked progress, so it is not about it being open world or linear. I remember trying to get parts for my weapons but I couldn't access that area yet or even more stupid, my powerlevel wasn't high enough to carry that weapon/ability.
 
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nowhat

Member
What if technology soon allowed for that to be possible, would you be interested? Like AI based game creation that is not bland and clearly generated. Or even AI driven characters with their own responses and personalities?
I seriously doubt we'll be seeing anything like that any time soon. I think in general people overestimate the capabilities of AI as it is today and will be in the near future. Sure, AI can handle specific tasks very well right now; but unless you enjoy chatbots in your game, you won't want "AI driven characters with their own responses and personalities" for quite a while.
 

mcjmetroid

Member
I'm so happy this keeps winning over Red Dead redemption 2 which I just can't stand sorry.

One is an "immersive" open world game that forgot the fun and pacing. Another is a hand crafted linearish game that takes you on a journey.

Non open world games are still Superior to open world at their best.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
People are still giving out 2018 GOTY awards? We're almost a quarter done with 2019, what's the point?

It never made sense to hand out awards during the same year that you're in. GDC is actually doing it the right way.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
It never made sense to hand out awards during the same year that you're in. GDC is actually doing it the right way.

Yeah, I don't think you should do it during either, I'm just saying it seems silly to still be handing out GOTY awards almost 4 months into the following year. Not sure who still cares or what impact it has at that point.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Yeah, I don't think you should do it during either, I'm just saying it seems silly to still be handing out GOTY awards almost 4 months into the following year. Not sure who still cares or what impact it has at that point.

Most of the impact for this award is for the devs, not us gamers. Developers really care about this recognition.
 

ZehDon

Member
I'm glad to see God of War is cleaning up the awards. It's focus on gameplay, while still having a strong narrative element to drive it, is really outstanding. This is the type of "stroy driven single player games" that I will always love and support.
 
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