Julius

I'd say only jump ahead from the first game to 2 if you really want to play that particular game for the new and updated world map and traversal, and to immediately see the story from this game picked up and continued; if you're looking for the complete experience, though, especially seeing as Miles is one of the playable characters in 2 and his own game is about setting him up to step into his role in 2, I'd recommend playing it before 2. While the traversal isn't updated in the same way as it is in 2, there isn't nearly as much busywork as in the first game, with things like randomly spawning crimes now being able to be triggered from your phone in the game (so if you are 100%'ing it, no real need to wait around). The story and content is way, way leaner and shorter in Miles than in either game – something like 15 hours to 100%/Platinum, and probably half of that if you just crit path it. I also dread to imagine returning to that game after the jumps made with 2, in so many areas, but especially the speed of it's traversal. If you have any interest in the complete story (I mean, you're playing the DLC for the first game, so maybe?) or just playing Miles at any point in the future, I think before playing 2 is the right time to do so, because I do think it'll be a struggle to go back to after 2.

Buried in the PS Blog post were updated sales figures for the game: Insane stuff, and very much deserved

Yeah, I'm with @drahkon on this one. I do think there's a discussion point potentially about recency bias being a factor resulting in what felt like a blowout night from BG3 across the board (Actor, for example, I think could have gone to Ben Starr from XVI given the entire game is carried on his shoulders), and what might have happened if Zelda released in August/September and BG3 in May, but @Dcubed, it is one of the best reviewing games ever. I haven't talked to anyone who has played this game for less than 5 hours who hasn't rambled on about their time with the game. Screw it, I'm just going to quote myself from the events thread, because I've said it before. This is not to mention the commitment and support Larian have shown to the game and it's players since launch (and even before, in Early Access); the astounding VA throughout the game; the ludicrous number of choices you can make; the ability to play the game with friends (at all, let alone the fact that it works well!); the game's great score (I mean, it's no XVI, but it's still pretty damn good); and so on. I could go on and on and on about this game – and I've "only" finished Act I. Maybe I get to the end and hate how it shakes out? But even if that happens, I can appreciate so much of the game already that, yeah, it doesn't surprise me that it won – not because it's "bait" or "an obvious choice" or confirms to any weird metric or profile of game, but because it's a damn good video game, and has been recognised as such by fans and critics alike. I'm not going to quote you from past threads because I think it's both poor form and, well, I'm on my phone, but since when is BG3 a, what was it, Oscar bait 3D story-driven game? Or an open world Soulsborne title? I thought those were the formulas for GOTY success? I think it's incredibly reductive and disrespectful to the teams who worked on these games to keep trying to boil down what will and won't be nominated, and what will and won't win, to a formula, a genre, a select set of dimensions, or being developed or published by a certain company. Have you played BG3? Watched anything about it? I am 100% all for a game not being for you, and I do think that at the TGAs in particular, there's obviously a certain level of mass appeal involved in many nominations simply because it is an aggregate of so many different opinions, from industry journalists and fans alike. It's all in the execution, from the teams realising their vision, to how you are interpreting it. I don't mind if you didn't like BOTW, or Elden Ring, or God of War, or It Takes Two, or BG3, or any other GOTY winner, but if you could seriously and genuinely appreciate any of what they did and have accomplished, we wouldn't be talking about only games of a certain type being able to win the GOTY award. Because the conversation is a non-starter: these games are so diverse in their execution and goals that I think it's a genuine shame that you think only games of a certain type can win GOTY. It's funny, because in me saying we shouldn't be reductive, I do genuinely think that there is one actual defining component absolutely essential to winning GOTY (and so many other awards) at the TGAs: and that's to have a narrative around the production of your game. I don't mean a crafted narrative, mind you, but it can be as simple as being hard-working, or as complex as pushing for diversity, or as deep as telling a story about yourself or someone you care for, but ultimately the result is the same: the people walking up onto that stage to collect these awards are human, and with that comes all of the baggage that being a human brings. But we are humans, and the story of this baggage is often the story we tell – and relate to. The fact simply remains that not a single one of the games to ever - ever - win GOTY at TGAs wasn't a triumph in passion, collaboration, and dedication to the craft above all else. To suggest BG3 did so simply because it followed some flimsy set of rules on your end (that seemingly changes every year, by the way) is simply a sad conclusion to arrive at, from my perspective. So how about you go play BG3, and we'll have a conversation about that instead

This stuff was disgusting to me as I watched live, and very early on it quickly became apparent that they would be playing people off – I am surprised that they had the nerve to try to cut the GOTY speech short of all things, if only because it's presented at the death of the show? Anyways, they completely overcorrected after Christopher Judge's colossal speech last year (which, by the way, I was re-listening to the EZA podcast from last year following the TGAs and Kyle said people were running late which is why they were happy to let it run, so what gives, Keighley?). This was the first time in years where I've watched the TGAs somewhat spontaneously and without watching along with someone else like Easy Allies (you know, to blunt the drawn out nature of it all), and I was surprised by just how good it was this year; I hopped on probably 20 minutes or so into the show and spent what felt like 70% of it catching up (thanks, SEGA). In terms of new and exciting announcements I think there was very little dead air compared to previous years, I think there were only two major stretches of "urgh, ads", and I do think it generally flowed much better between the bigger reveals. I know the show and Keighley get a lot of stick for a lot of things - how it's about his ego, how it's not been about the awards for a while now (if it ever was) - but I do appreciate it being put on simply because it's a hard date in the gaming events calendar to look forward to as a source of potential new announcements. However, I think if you are going to call the show The Game Awards and go through the trouble of flying out some of the industry's biggest talents, not giving them a platform to have the opportunity to share their struggles or inspire the next generation of developers makes the thing a total waste. I think what's truly happened - perhaps evidenced most with the Industry Icon award getting axed, what, 5 years ago? - is that the show was positioned the way it was, as an end of year awards show, to pull in attention, hype, and discussion. Geoff used this as a platform to continue strengthening his ties throughout the industry to get more and bigger reveals and announcements - the dude is a total E3 slut; aren't we all? - but when the show found itself with all of the funding and reveals it could ever need...it was now permanently tacked onto the event being an awards show; the awards are secondary, at this point, but I genuinely don't think that this was always the case. He's got his winter E3 event to go with his summer E3 event, now, and I think this is the cost it came at: disrespecting just about everyone who isn't already a big name or isn't backing the show in some way. I mean, come on. Someone getting played off as they're diving into the important topic of diversity in voice acting and games? It is disgraceful, but I also think he's painted himself into a corner and now doesn't have much of a choice but to see the show through in its current form I'd been hearing way more than I'd personally like to about Fortnite in the build-up to the LEGO Fortnite release, but I'd totally just assumed this was a seasonal thing or some skins until I watched the trailer the other day...and it was actually LEGO Save the World/Valheim? Completely caught me by surprise! I think it gives them a weird marketing problem, because I would've paid much more attention and noticed much earlier that LEGO Fortnite isn't really Fortnite if it was called just about anything else, but at the same time, I think it just ties into their overall plan for their metaverse to be a hub of content, and I guess that also includes Rocket Racing (which, until now, I did totally think was it's own thing ) The world we live in is getting weird, guys

Hey, that game is long, and my group is unreliable at best! (we hopped on for 40 minutes last week, beat that spider which they'd totally forgot about, and I forced them to walk through that stupid door...just so we could say we've finished Act I, too )

See, you'd think so, but I just can't figure out for the life of me why you wouldn't stick the Xbox logo all over this thing if that is the case – I mean, they did it for Kojima's game, and they don't even own 1% of Koji-Pro, but they own all the % of Bethesda and Arkane! It's just really, really bizarre. Unless their thinking is to make everyone think it's multiplatform to drum up more hype before springing the trap and going "haha, got you! Come to the Xbox side! We still use AA batteries!", but surely not. Unless...

XVI – based on the trailer footage, I think I'd say it's probably not, as it spoils some party members and later moments in the game. Ragnarök DLC – spoils some things in the game and the PS Blog sets it up as being an epilogue to the main game, so skip this one too. For a second I thought it was a console reveal with how they weren't cutting away from the people on the couch, but then it was all BIM-BAM-BEM-BOM-BUM

Available now on Xbox Series X|S: Oh, and also won a little award or two at The Game Awards... Deserved

Some more details on the DLC courtesy of the PlayStation Blog: Basically, Buster Sword and Away (Orchestrion Roll) are the special items for getting Echoes of the Fallen or the full expansion pass, and as seen in the trailer: Leviathan, confirmed.

And to very few people's shock, there's the TGAs GOTY Loving the suit as ever, Swen

Love the Game Awards orchestra every year, always a highlight with their medley

@Hero-of-Time go on and get in here, this thread's for you More details to come in Summer 2024, but for now, a word from Series Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto: Currently announced for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC...all with Switch 2 details and potential compatibility pending, of course

MonHun, immediately Damnnnnnnn

Coming up on GOTY, which to me makes it sound like we're getting one of Elden Ring DLC or Monster Hunter at best

DLC announced at The Game Awards: Echoes of the Fallen dropping today (!), and The Rising Tide dropping in Spring 2024. These will come in the form of new chapters taking place before the game's final chapter. WARNING: Potential spoilers for the main game lie within. Good stuff guess I know what will be tiding me over until Valhalla on Tuesday

A long way off and only a dozen people working on it currently, but this is Hello Games' follow-up to No Man's Sky: Light No Fire, a "truly open world", with peaks from which you can view canyons, rivers, and continents. Bold of them to announce it so early and with such language reminiscent of the marketing for NMS, but Sean said it himself: he wants to be back in 10 years talking about this game still, making a promise as I see it that they are going to commit to this in the same way they have NMS, and want people along for the ride.

XVI DLC LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Damn, Sean dude and Hello Games, chill out with the promises! I'm in though Zelda winning action/adventure and Aonuma going up to give a speech...yep, sounds like a BG3 win to me. EDIT: and then they won Best RPG and no speech. Yup, that's theirs. EDIT EDIT: they just won 3 on the bounce out of 5 in that rundown lmao, and Player's Voice over Zelda too.

The Last of Us winning Best Adaptation, I'm shocked. Not close. Might've dropped the ball in some key areas for me but why they did in Episode 3 and throughout most of the series was brilliant, even if I still think the game was stronger

Geoff: 2017 TGAs was when we first announced this next game Me: In The Valley Of Gods?! Geoff: GTFO Me:

Also, forgot to comment on it: XVI winning best OST, hell yes my favourite soundtrack this year and it isn't remotely close

Blade was stylin'

Developed by Arkane Lyon and announced at the TGAs: Damn, love the look of this. No mention of Xbox exclusivity from what I can see in the press releases and trailer descriptions so far, which is...interesting.

Full trailer from the TGAs, including the delightful theme song for the game (WARNING: I think it shows a fair bit, so if you're sensitive to that and want to go media blackout...now would be the time based on this trailer): And just the song itself: I'm getting A Place to Call Home vibes. Damn it, Uematsu Loren Allred has a beautiful voice, too I know VII was the only PS1 mainline FF to go without a love theme (kinda), so for Uematsu to finally give it one in the Remake project feels special ALSO! The live performance: