The Game Awards 2018

[Ganepark32]

This is fast approaching, scheduled to take place on December 6th, and Geoff Keighley has slowly been building up hype on Twitter over the last week or so, so I thought it was time to make a thread for the show leading up to it.

Later today, the nominees for the awards are set to be announced at 5pm GMT (9am PST/12pm EST/6pm CEST) and I thought I'd get in ahead of that to discuss what we think will be nominated, what'll be announces/shown and, after tomorrow's announcement, who we think will ultimately take home something to adorn their mantlepiece.

With regards to the game of the year award, I suspect it'll be a two horse race between God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 for who takes that home. I'm guessing the other nominees will be Marvel's Spiderman and Monster Hunter World. As for the fifth one, if they're only going for 5, I can see them going with Assassin's Creed Odyssey but wouldn't put it passed them nominating the likes of Detroit: Become Human as an outside choice/wild card.

As much as I'd like Celeste to be up there, and even more so how I'd love it to win as it's definitely been my favourite of the year so far, I have a feeling it's going to miss out on a nomination for the big award, though it will probably be nominated for one of the smaller categories. Out of what is likely to be nominated for it, I'd have to with God of War because it was such a great game.

As for announcements, Reggie is always going to put in an appearance what with his and Geoff's long standing friendship so there'll be something from Nintendo. If I had to guess what that'll be, I'm thinking maybe Metroid Prime 4 as that's a big enough game to get some good press for the company, especially as they won't have much up for awards in the bigger categories this year. And there's a rumour/leak going round that this is what will be shown at the show from Nintendo so will be interesting to see.

There'll be more Devil May Cry 5 at the show and Microsoft have their Winter of Arcade line-up to reveal but beyond that, I've not got the foggiest as to what could be announced. I've seen people hoping for something from Bethesda, perhaps even Starfield, but I just can't see it yet. Hopefully we'll see and update on In The Valley of Gods (if I've remembered that correctly) from the Campo Santo guys.

So what are people expecting from the show? We're drawing towards that time when GOTY awards and discussions will be cropping up so what do people see as being the big games in amongst the various categories, like best soundtrack, art direction etc.?

[bob]

For the first time in a while, I have actually played a game that came out this year!

So my vote is for Spider-Man. For all the awards. Unless Pokémon Quest is up for anything? No? Oh. Spider-Man then.

[Ronnie]

31 minutes ago, Ganepark32 said:

With regards to the game of the year award, I suspect it'll be a two horse race between God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 for who takes that home. I'm guessing the other nominees will be Marvel's Spiderman and Monster Hunter World. As for the fifth one, if they're only going for 5, I can see them going with Assassin's Creed Odyssey but wouldn't put it passed them nominating the likes of Detroit: Become Human as an outside choice/wild card.

I think (and hope) that Spider Man will be the big casualty in the nominees, in no way do I consider that GOTY worthy. It's 87 on Metacritic is about right. It's an empty shell of an openworld, with nothing special about it, apart from traversal. It'll probably get nominated but I hope not.

I suspect the nominees will be: God of War, RDR2, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Celeste and Monster Hunter World... with God of War winning overall.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing more In The Valley of Gods. 

Nintendo have started having a big presence there, so they'll have a couple of things lined up for sure. Metroid Prime 4 seems a safe bet, even if it's just a 1 minute teaser trailer. That's certainly the audience for it. 

I'd love to see Hollow Knight get some recognition but it's tricky cause it technically released last year on PC, it's just made a name for itself this year with the Switch (and later PS4/XBO) release.

As for the show itself, Geoff does a great job but I really hope they don't skim through half the categories like last year. At one point he read out about 5 awards within the space of 20 seconds.

But yeah, looking forward to it

[bob]

I think (and hope) that Spider Man will be the big casualty in the nominees, in no way do I consider that GOTY worthy. It's 87 on Metacritic is about right. It's an empty shell of an openworld, with nothing special about it, apart from traversal. It'll probably get nominated but I hope not.

It's too late I've already voted for it.

[Goafer]

RDR gets my vote hands down. I've watched a playthrough of GoW and whilst it does look good, I think RDR surpasses it in terms of graphics, story and characters. I've not finished the story yet, but what's happened so far has been incredible.

For me, it's my game of the generation and a perfect example of mature story telling.

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, Goafer said:

I think RDR surpasses it in terms of graphics, story and characters.

Just a shame about the most important part, gameplay.

[killthenet]

Of the big hitters I've only played Red Dead so far, so by default thats my pick, but I'm planning on playing through God of War before the awards take place to have a better perspective on it. @Ganepark32, I too would like Celeste to get a nomination for the top award, it thoroughly deserves it but you're probably right and the nominees will likely end up being Red Dead, God of War, Spider-Man, Monster Hunter and Assassin's Creed. Personally I would love to see Mulaka get nominated for something but that seems highly unlikely.

As far as announcements go I think Metroid Prime 4 is a really good bet but I think Nintendo will use the ceremony to announce the first of the DLC fighters for Smash, considering the game releases just hours after the ceremony finishes.

[Goafer]

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

Just a shame about the most important part, gameplay.

Most important to you.

I'll admit, the gameplay was nothing stellar, but I'd say the story, graphics and characters exceeded everything else by enough to make up for it. 

I've played countless hours and I still am in awe of the scenery. I haven't used quick travel once, because I just put cinematic view on and just relax and watch the scenery go by. There's a peacefulness (and slight melancholy) to it that I've only ever experienced in Shadow of the Colossus.

I haven't played the game for a few days (real life sucks), but I still find myself thinking about the characters and the plot developments. The feels are still there.

That to me is why it stands out as one of the best games I've ever played. The feeling. And that is a rarity. Gameplay makes you feel good whilst you're playing it, story and characters make you feel something long after the game has been turned off.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Goafer

[Ganepark32]

5 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I think (and hope) that Spider Man will be the big casualty in the nominees, in no way do I consider that GOTY worthy. It's 87 on Metacritic is about right. It's an empty shell of an openworld, with nothing special about it, apart from traversal. It'll probably get nominated but I hope not.

I suspect the nominees will be: God of War, RDR2, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Celeste and Monster Hunter World... with God of War winning overall.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing more In The Valley of Gods. 

Nintendo have started having a big presence there, so they'll have a couple of things lined up for sure. Metroid Prime 4 seems a safe bet, even if it's just a 1 minute teaser trailer. That's certainly the audience for it. 

I'd love to see Hollow Knight get some recognition but it's tricky cause it technically released last year on PC, it's just made a name for itself this year with the Switch (and later PS4/XBO) release.

As for the show itself, Geoff does a great job but I really hope they don't skim through half the categories like last year. At one point he read out about 5 awards within the space of 20 seconds.

But yeah, looking forward to it

I definitely agree about Spiderman. It's a good game, with some really well done mechanics, but it just doesn't live up to that high benchmark that so many as holding it to. Sure, all the open world activities fit within the context of the character and the world they've created but they felt too similar within the first hour of play. The same crimes being committed all over Manhattan, more or less the same hideouts that are duplicated over different enemy types with only marginal differences and collectibles and challenges that seemed to be there to flesh out a world and character that they perhaps could have done with more engaging gameplay.

As I say, it's by no means bad but I don't see why it should take home GOTY at the Game Awards, or from most sites, compared to some of the other games this year.

I can't remember if Hollow Knight/Team Cherry was nominated last year for something but yeah, unless it's in the Best Switch Game category, it sadly won't crop up. Though by all means, it's a game that should definitely appear in that category as it was superb to play on the Switch (and a third time for me on the PS4 after playing some of if last year on the PC).

I know Geoff has been getting a lot of questions from people asking for them to show more of the awards and not bulk loads together in a short space and he's said it's something they've been looking at so hopefully they've thought of a good way to do those, whether through a pre-awards show or something to give the developers and games their chance in the spotlight.

1 hour ago, Goafer said:

Most important to you.

I'll admit, the gameplay was nothing stellar, but I'd say the story, graphics and characters exceeded everything else by enough to make up for it. 

I've played countless hours and I still am in awe of the scenery. I haven't used quick travel once, because I just put cinematic view on and just relax and watch the scenery go by. There's a peacefulness (and slight melancholy) to it that I've only ever experienced in Shadow of the Colossus.

I haven't played the game for a few days (real life sucks), but I still find myself thinking about the characters and the plot developments. The feels are still there.

That to me is why it stands out as one of the best games I've ever played. The feeling. And that is a rarity. Gameplay makes you feel good whilst you're playing it, story and characters make you feel something long after the game has been turned off.

I'd definitely agree that gameplay and control wise, RDR2 doesn't seem to be at the highest level when compared to the characterisations, narrative and visual/audio spectacle of the game. They're big detractors for me for the game compared to say God of War which I thought handled those aspects well on top of a solid story and good evolution of the main character.

But I'll agree that there's just something about RDR2 that draws you in. I saw someone compare it to reading a novel in how it's very detailed and thoughtful about the story and the characters and it's a remark that I totally get. I may not be enjoying it as much as some of the games I've played this year but it's one that keeps pulling me back in to see more of it inspire of all of the small grievances I have with it. It's got that magic that makes you want to play more, to play for hours on end and see how the big and small stories play out and to see what's lurking in that corner of the map you've not been to. On that level, it's definitely one of the most engrossing games of the year but I can see and have experienced the grievances people can see with it and how that can detract from the overall experience.

As I say, I see it as being between those two at the end of the day and to be honest, it's probably one of those decisions that could change by day with the quality of the games. I still think nothing has quite matched the almost perfection of Celeste this year though but that's a discussion.

[Glen-i]

Didn't Red Dead Redemption just come out?

That's a right honeymoon period pick if I ever saw one.

I'd vote for Celeste if I cared.

[Ronnie]

Looks like they added an extra GOTY nominee this year, so all the expected ones made it.

[nekunando]

Game of the Year discussion is largely lost on me this year as I haven't played any of the 'big' releases.. and don't have any real intention to.

My lack of interest in super heroes means Spiderman was never on my radar and nothing I've seen of it has done anything to encourage me to give it a go.

There's also the fact that it is an open world experience, something which partially turns me away from Red Dead Redemption 2. The main reason for me to be wary of that game, however, is that it's a Rockstar game. I've been irritated too often by most, if not all, of their previous games (including the original Red Dead Redemption) and the criticisms levelled at their latest '10/10' release are basically everything that has turned me away from their other games and I feel like I'd find it all to be even more obnoxious here!

God of War is a franchise that has never really appealed to me but while the new direction of the latest entry seems of more interest, I simply haven't been interested enough to drop money into it when I have been focused entirely on Nintendo consoles for the last 6 months while me PS4 has become a YouTube machine to keep my son entertained

Having said that, it has been a disappointingly weak year for new releases from Nintendo in 2018. We've had a few rereleases of great games across Switch and 3DS but there has been nothing on the level of Super Mario Odyssey to look forward to. Super Smash Bros Ultimate could be the killer title for me this year but other than embracing the history and representation of multiple Nintendo franchises in the other Smash games, I've never really been overly into the fighting. I hope to become way more invested this time around, though

So far, my personal games of the year are games I have definitely enjoyed, and continue to do so, but in my heart I don't feel like Mario Tennis Aces, Wario Ware Gold and Dark Souls Remastered are worthy of 'GOTY'.. but I feel like they are probably in my top 3, for now!

[drahkon]

If Celeste doesn't win every award including the Oscar for best thing ever I'm going on an irrational rampage against everyone.

[Aperson]

I have one major problem with the Game Award nominations... Soul Calibur VI has not been considered for the Best Soundtrack award. OK, this is a personal opinion but Soul Calibur VI had the best soundtrack from a game I've played this year.

 

Like, how can a game with this kind of music not win Game of the Year?

 

 

 

Actually, I think I know why. Because it's a fighting game. At least the game has one nomination (for best Fighter which is about as much as I could expect at least and even then I think Dragon Ball FighterZ is a shoe-in for that award.

 

Marvel's Spider-Man has a great main theme and the sound design overall is good so I can see why it got a nomination but apart from the main theme there's very little if any stand out themes in that game other than remixes of said main theme. I can't really comment on the other nominees because I haven't really heard much of their soundtracks, but indie games and RPGs usually have great music so I can't really deny their prescence in there.

 

I'll have to ask anyone else if they thought if RDR2 and God of War have great soundtracks.

[Ronnie]

10 minutes ago, GenericAperson said:

Marvel's Spider-Man has a great main theme and the sound design overall is good so I can see why it got a nomination but apart from the main theme there's very little if any stand out themes in that game other than remixes of said main theme.

That was a wtf moment for me, really strange nomination.

[Aperson]

3 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

That was a wtf moment for me, really strange nomination.

I guess for most people, they only really remember one tune from any video game. So if there's one really prominent theme that they keep hearing that's good, instantly considered a good soundtrack,

 

I would hope Spider-Man doesn't take the best soundtrack award but it probably will do because if people are voting based on what they played then it's one of the games on the list that they will have most likely played over the games that may actually have much better soundtracks all around like Ni No Kuni II and Octopath Traveller.

[Goafer]

6 hours ago, GenericAperson said:

I'll have to ask anyone else if they thought if RDR2 and God of War have great soundtracks.

RDR2's soundtrack was pretty good, although it was more background music than actual music. There were proper songs playing during significant story moments, but only about 3 times throughout the entire game. They were perfect though.

It's one of those soundtracks that suits the atmosphere brilliantly, but doesn't really stand out (with the exception of the 2 tracks used during the key story moments).

Edited November 14, 2018 by Goafer

[Hero-of-Time]

It's been a cracking year for me on the PS4. Monster Hunter World, God of War, Spider-Man, Detroit and Dragon Quest XI all being fantastic games. The one to bring home the trophy has to be God of War. Sony Santa Monica done an amazing job with updating the God of War franchise and managed to create a Kratos that you felt sympathetic towards, yet still capturing the raw power from the character in the older games.

I would like to see Detroit bring home an award. The soundtrack and story of that game were both amazing and it was one of my standout titles of the year. David Cage games get a lot of heat for having very little gameplay but its the story that drives these types of games and on this front Detroit really delivered. I suppose this is kind of what Goafer was talking about earlier where some games can get away with certain things in the story is strong enough to carry the rest of the game. I mean, just look at Telltale's The Walking Dead. Like David Cage games, these have very little gameplay but you get so engrossed in the story and characters that you forget about such things.

I'm happy Monster Hunter World got some recognition. The way Capcom revamped the series and got success in the Western world has been a great thing to behold. I've said for years that in order to find success over here that the series needed to come back home to consoles with a decent online setup. True enough this was the case and they managed to break series records and then some.

Dragon Quest XI should win the role playing game award ( I don't class MH as such a game ) as it delivered one of the best JRPG experiences i've had in a long time. It would be a travesty if Octopath won this award. The game started off really strong but repetitiveness, lack of story and post game shenanigans really killed the game off for myself and others. Strangely, Octopath had a fantastic soundtrack but the rest was meh, whereas Dragon Quest had an awful soundtrack but everything else was amazing.  

I would like to see Overcooked! 2 win the best family game. I played it last month with a mate of mine and it was a hilarious, chaotic and stressful experience, but in a fun way.  I can imagine it being even more of a laugh with a full party of 4. 

[Ganepark32]

5 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's been a cracking year for me on the PS4. Monster Hunter World, God of War, Spider-Man, Detroit and Dragon Quest XI all being fantastic games. The one to bring home the trophy has to be God of War. Sony Santa Monica done an amazing job with updating the God of War franchise and managed to create a Kratos that you felt sympathetic towards, yet still capturing the raw power from the character in the older games.

I would like to see Detroit bring home an award. The soundtrack and story of that game were both amazing and it was one of my standout titles of the year. David Cage games get a lot of heat for having very little gameplay but its the story that drives these types of games and on this front Detroit really delivered. I suppose this is kind of what Goafer was talking about earlier where some games can get away with certain things in the story is strong enough to carry the rest of the game. I mean, just look at Telltale's The Walking Dead. Like David Cage games, these have very little gameplay but you get so engrossed in the story and characters that you forget about such things.

I'm happy Monster Hunter World got some recognition. The way Capcom revamped the series and got success in the Western world has been a great thing to behold. I've said for years that in order to find success over here that the series needed to come back home to consoles with a decent online setup. True enough this was the case and they managed to break series records and then some.

Dragon Quest XI should win the role playing game award ( I don't class MH as such a game ) as it delivered one of the best JRPG experiences i've had in a long time. It would be a travesty if Octopath won this award. The game started off really strong but repetitiveness, lack of story and post game shenanigans really killed the game off for myself and others. Strangely, Octopath had a fantastic soundtrack but the rest was meh, whereas Dragon Quest had an awful soundtrack but everything else was amazing.  

I would like to see Overcooked! 2 win the best family game. I played it last month with a mate of mine and it was a hilarious, chaotic and stressful experience, but in a fun way.  I can imagine it being even more of a laugh with a full party of 4. 

Totally agree with you on Detroit: Become Human. I really hope it brings home some form of reward because for me, it's been one of the best games of the year. And like you say, the story and soundtrack were absolutely brilliant. I've voted for it in those categories along with Best Game Direction and hopefully, it'll grab one of those along the way but I imagine it'll be a wash across the board for the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War.

I've also voted for Overcooked 2 for Best Family game as that really does deserve it. Played it with the missus at a friend's and it was just chaotic but absolutely brilliant. Need to pick it up myself but it kind of got swept aside in amongst all the other games this year. Still, the brief time with it was enough to get my vote so fingers crossed.

So happy to see that Celeste got nominated for GOTY. I've seen quite a bit of "Never heard of it" and "Why nominate a crappy indie hipster game as opposed to something else" around the net following the announcement yesterday and it really does make me sad. It's not likely to win but it is by no means undeserving of its place up there because it was joy a beautiful game and as close to perfect as a game has come for me this year. Thankfully, there seems to be more and more people coming out of the woodwork on Twitter and the like telling people to get it played (saw Brian Altano of IGN sum it up as "Fix that" when someone has commented on his tweet as not having heard of it).

I'm hoping it'll at least take home the Best Indie title. Though, that category shows how ridiculously good the year has been for indie games. I'm still yet to play several, like Return of the Obra Dinn (though I've voted for this in the Art Direction category because I love the look if it, and plus Banner Saga e wasn't included there), Into The Breach and The Messenger, but I know enough to know it's a tough call in that category and any one of them could win it at the end of the day as they're all deserving.

If Josef Fares doesn't win for Best Moment of 2017 I'll be shocked. It was more cringeworthy than anything else but of the nominees in that category, it has to win just so we can see how he explains his way out of that one.

The biggest omission I see is Tetris Effect from Best Audio Design. I think that's been underserved there as it should have been included as that soundtrack is amazing. It probably wouldn't have gotten a look in Best Score (which has some iffy choices) but should definitely have been in Best Audio Design and Art Direction.

[Ronnie]

I hadn't even heard of Return of the Obra Dinn until now, will check it out. Still need to play The Messenger, it's on my Switch list. I thought Into the Breach released last year but I could be wrong. Still bitter Hollow Knight wasn't considered for this year.

I'd really love it if no one refers to Josef Fares again. I dunno why him saying fuck the Oscars is being heralded as this incredible, god-like moment worthy of so much fanfare. I find the guy seriously annoying and up himself.

Played Overcooked 2 online with a mate, it was ok. I found it got old really quickly tbh.

Oh and agree re: Detroit, I'd much rather that had been nominated for GOTY over Spider Man. Crazy game that actually did something new (ish) in the industry.

Edit: ok I've checked out Return of the Obra Dinn, not my kind of game lol.

Edited November 14, 2018 by Ronnie

[killthenet]

Really happy to see Celeste get so many nominations, I would love for it to beat the big hitters to the top award but I'd expect it to be a battle between God of War and Red Dead for that.

@GenericAperson, the score for Red Dead is definitely deserving of a nomination - one of my favourite aspects of the game. Celeste too totally deserves a nod, the music in that was fantastic.

There are so many games I haven't played yet, have been waiting for more episodes of Life is Strange to release before starting that but will have to play through the first episode before the awards. Detroit, The Missing, Dead Cells, 11-11 and The Messenger are all on my list but I feel like I'll only be able to get through God of War and episode one of Life is Strange before the 6th December.

[Mandalore]

Are there any awards specifically for lower budget/indie games? One of the highlights for me this year was Yoku's Island Express.

[killthenet]

10 minutes ago, Mandalore said:

Are there any awards specifically for lower budget/indie games? One of the highlights for me this year was Yoku's Island Express.

Yoku's Island Express is nominated in the Best Debut Indie Game category! There are a couple of other categories for indie games (games for impact, best independent game) and they have a student category as well so they're pretty good at recognising lower budget stuff.

[Ronnie]

Not so keen on the million eSports categories but I guess Geoff needs as much publicity as possible and that'll give him a big chunk audience wise.

Edited November 14, 2018 by Ronnie

[Julius]

Safe to say, I’m now pretty excited for the TGAs next week  it’ll be interesting to see if Sony brings anything to the show without PSX next month and E3 presence next year — besides, of course, Death Stranding. Speaking of which, there’s a lot of talk about just how far along and polished the game is...I have to wonder if there’s the possibility of a release date being announced? Sony don’t have a release date for any of their AAA first/second party exclusives besides Days Gone at the moment in 2019, and that’s coming at the end of April.

I haven’t played too many games released this year - I completed Shadow of the Colossus just today, and besides that I think only Shenmue I & II, Spider-Man, and Dragon Quest XI? - but I’ve had a great time with the ones that I have. DQXI should definitely win best RPG from my experience with the game, because soundtrack (by typical JRPG standards) and technical hiccups aside, I absolutely loved every minute of my one hundred hours in the game. 

I’ll be starting God of War tomorrow morning, so hopefully I’ll have that complete by next Thursday to decide which I prefer between that and Spider-Man, but I probably won’t be picking up Red Dead Redemption II until some time next year at this rate (I’m playing through Dragon Quest VIII at the moment too ).