The Game Awards 2018 Nominations Announced

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Faelco said:

Intrinsic said:
God of War everything.

I don't know about everyone else..... but that game totally ruined every other game for me this year. With all other games I just kindaknew what to expect going in and eventually they all fell into a sort of pattern. With GOW, from start to finish I just kept on getting wowed. Like I was discovering something nw at every turn.

Only other times in my life I had those kinda feels were Ocarina of time, SoTC, MGS, GOW1, FFT, Vagrant story, U2, Horizon ad now GOW.

Honestly, since I played Nier Automata and God of War, I can't be involved fully in a game, nothing feels satisfying enough compared to these two... 

Yea, I can relate.

I tried getting into AC Odyssey, and I just couldn't. All I could think about is how unsatisfying the hit detection was in comparison to God of War, and how haphazard and cluttered the screen felt, and how far back the camera was. It't like I respect what the game accomplished but felt formulaic and made by committee.  Which is something I also feel about Red Dead 2, but I will reserve full judgement till I get past the tutorial areas, if only it would stop putting me to sleep bored to tears.

........

Was thinking about what the Critics usually like in their GOTY. I think a key attribute is they tend to push for games that move their Genre forward to some degree, and well polished. Also games that had something socially to say.

Case for God of War

I would say the revolution of Kratos as a character is the biggest change. The original GoW games were edge-lord male gaze type affairs. Sex mini games, and violence out the wazoo. I think the big revelation of GoW is how the character and gameplay have.....matured. The game is still violent, but you no longer see Kratos maming innocent people for the thrill of vengeance. You actually see him cautioning about the path to the Norse Gods and his Son. He kills with much more purpose now, and actually is haunted by his previous actions.

The evolution of gameplay is interesting as well. We all know Sony likes their Buddy Naratives. Single Player experience where a companion to talk to is always near by. While The Last of Us eroded what we understood as an "Escort Mission" by making Ellie super efficient, God of War gives the player even more power by actually giving you simultaneous control of your companion. GoW ultimately has you controlling two characters at once, comboing off of each other in some of the most spectacular animation rifts.

Ex. I frisbee the Axe into a draugr who is then pinned to a wall, Kratos is barrelling at him at top speed, I make Kratos leap in air and summon my Axe Back to hand, before it makes it back I tap the CIRCLE to make Atreus sumersault off Kratos back and pop 3 arrows into the enemy midair, just in time for Kratos to come crashing back to earth and slamming axe into the dirt for huge ice blast.

I found the combat some of the most satisfying I have ever played.

God of War (and other titles like Detroit, Far Cry 5, etc) were actually coming right off from 2017 where Microtransactions and Multiplayer ruled. We were being told that "Single Player only games are just not viable anymore". That making such a game has become too risky in current day. It is no coincidence that all the GOTY nominees seem hell bend on eroding that idea. All of them have pulled amazing numbers, stretching beyond many of the Multiplayer counterparts. God of War lead this pack though in quality and success.

God of War sort of represents an end of an era for action games, and a dawn of something new but familiar.