God of War Ragnarok Cleans Up at DICE Awards, Elden Ring Takes Game of the Year

Outstanding Technical Achievement: Elden Ring

Really?

@Kanji-Tatsumi yeah, this one was weird. I'd give it to Horizon

I don't want to sound like a sore loser, as I'm not, and I feel all these games have their qualities.. but I just don't get all the awards for Elden Ring.
It has yet to win most individual categories awards on any event (almost always beat by GOWR), and ones it does win actually don't make sense given the true strengths of the game (Technical Achievements, Game design, Game direction).
Categories might not be ready to properly communicate what makes the game "good", but as it stands now, it's a bit odd. I would probably feel better about it if it only won GOTY, with no individual awards. That I could explain by rating system being too fresh and unpolished.

@Olmaz People love basic stuff. 'Parental figure cares for child' is as basic as it gets.

The people who want to unite a galaxy to fight the Reapers or uncover conspiracy theories and corruption sounds infinitely more interesting to us, but we are sadly a minority.

@Cikajovazmaj award shows don't really matter. They don't dictate which games you will or should like. Just because there is an award for best story in a game and the people in charge decided that GOWR should win doesn't in any way make any other game less good. ER didn't have a good story no one will dispute that, but people enjoyed playing it more.

Oh and I've just noticed : Elden Ring not even nominated for art direction... riiiight...
(sorry for the negative vibes, I've got a terrible headache, this is my "b*tching about incredibly small issues" day)

Glad to see Marvel Snap in there - fantastic game!

Nice to see Tunic get some recognition as well.

Horizon always the bridesmaid never the bride.
Horizon 3 will probably launch a week after GTA6.

ER for “Outstanding Technical Achievement”…BS.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Horizon wouldn't have been received any better even if ER got delayed. The game is milquetoast AF.

Vampire survivors ,game of the year contender ? Really ? Any old crap will do these days.

@Olmaz I cant believe that atari 2600 game vampire survivors,gets so much praise ,but there you go

Kratos a better character than Guybrush? I think not.

@themightyant played games like that to death in the late 80s and 90s ,want a bit more these days ,I found it monotonous and head ache inducing ,I didn't like stray either ,and thats getting loads of praise ,short and boring was my verdict.

@tallythwack I'm with you on both games :
I played enough basic games like Vampire Survivor in my time, we're in 2023, I expect more. And if your gameplay is simple, at least balance it with graphics and sound.
As for Stray, the game is ok-ish. But what I don't get is that it misses its main selling point : the way the cat moves. The button press to get to point B is so limited it's a joke the Devs tried to bet on it. Again, in 2022, we should expect a more tactile, more immersive way of playing as a cat interacting with its environment.
But I guess we're just grumpy old men...

@themightyant i know,aren't they great 😁

@Olmaz oh, im most definitely a grumpy old man 😂 stray was a low budget ,shallow game with nice cat animations ,but people lapped it up, because you know ,aww cats 🙄 vampire survivors involved you flying around a garish screen ,shooting blobs of badly drawn ,badly animated enemies ,I just couldn't be arsed,kind of reminded me when I use to put pages of code into my amiga 500,that was the result

Ragnarok won GOTY in my eyes.

Horizon really got shafted, I think, Elden got the big prize and technical, so it's mostly on point. The one I don't understand is art direction... Stray has problems as a video game but how did that lose art direction specifically to GoW? Horizon I could see getting the nod over Stray, I still think Stray really topped that one. GoW....how did that even get NOMINATED for art direction let alone win it? It's ok, but that's really not it's strength.

I was going to grunt at GoW winning story, then I looked at what else was nominated, and, ok, yeah, I see it winning. It wasn't up against much. But art direction? Money changed hands there...

N.i.c.e. god of war 🐐 👑 and elden ring are 2 of the best games ever made.word up son

@Olmaz Maybe technical achievement is swapped for art direction according to DICE's dictionary. But if a game like GOWR wins art direction, there's no problem at all. It's just there's some uniqueness to FromSoft's art.

@tallythwack Vampires Survivors is brilliant though, simple yes but really fun and addictive and gaming at its most pure.

@Kanji-Tatsumi Technical category had pretty weak competition

How Elden Ring wins so much is strange since it is not a great game.
Might not even be top 5 of FromSoftware games.
But since they made it open world and easy they somehow get praised.
If they make Elden ring 2 I will most likely skip it.

>Multiversus winning over KOFXV when Multiversus’ future is at stake, has incredibly poor progression, has had almost no significant updates in 4 months, has meh gameplay for a platform fighter, and has lost a ton of players.

@Olmaz it's all a matter of opinion. I found the way the story was told better than in any video game I've ever played. I haven't played the sequel yet, but I have no doubt it's just as good.

@WallyWest nah its sh*te ,it has the same gameplay loop, of every other arcade shmup cabinet in the 80s ,its no different to robotron or berserk ,youre just doin the same thing ad infitum,"oooh look at those charming pixel graphics" yeah it looks like garbage ,but hey whatever floats your boat,if I want to play a game of that type ,I'll stick with housemarque ,at least they make the effort.

@Cikajovazmaj It is literally the game of the year. Most talked about, one of the highest selling and critically adored. It deserves it. God of War does a few things just as well or even better, especially technically , but Elden captured the elusive zeitgeist.

@heyalright Those are all descriptors of how ER's story is non traditionally told, not of how it's compelling or good. A story can be vaguely or indirectly told and still not be a very good one. Not to say Elden Ring's story is bad necessarily. But nondirect storytelling is simply one method of which to convey a narrative, and not a direct indicator of quality.

@Starkei I ain't denying ER potentially being a GOTY. It's just that with traditional categories we measure games with, it is not best in almost any of them.
Furthermore, it is not my GOTY, but that is beyond the point. I feel it has generated enough buzz that it proves I'm the odd one out.

Instead of measuring games similar to what we do with movies (which evolved from what we did with books and music), I would propose categories to be more inline with mechanics in videogames medium: best risk and reward system, most immersive experience, biggest innovation in gameplay loop, etc..

I feel like this would communicate properly why an indie game actually can be a GOTY contender, as it has innovated and excelled at fields that matter, not animation design budget.

@Cikajovazmaj That's a very interesting idea, base awards on the aspects unique and important to games. Though I would expect Elden Ring to win all of those categories and Ragnarok would take the highest animation budget. 😂

@heyalright Yeah and there's nothing wrong with that. You can have that preference, that's totally fine. Just like how someone can prefer the way The Last of Us or RDR2 tells their stories over something like Dark Souls or Elden Ring. There's no right or wrong answer on how to convey a narrative. Whether that be traditionally or non traditionally. But my point was that just because ER's narrative is told by non traditional means doesn't necessarily equate it to quality, even if that is your personal preference. In my humble opinion, the quality of the narrative should be measured by....well, the quality of the narrative. And not by whether or not its told in a cutscene. At the end of the day a good story is a good story. Be that through dialogue or an item description

@Starkei which would be fine and align better with 90% of people thinking GOTY is a game that does not win in traditional categories (that have nothing to do with the game part of videogame).
FYI, GOWR wouldn't be my GOTY. And most appealing part of that game is the handling of leviathan axe (having to manually retrieve it and manage where it is on the battleground), and similar immersive touches. GOTY almost always for me is something from Nintendo camp (except years that don't have their contender).

The difference between GOW and Elden Ring just comes down to playing each game. If you enjoy cinematic sequences that take up half the game, then GOW is for you. If you enjoy just playing a game and finding its secrets and lore without the cut scenes and over the top cinematic crap, then Elden Ring is for you. For me, there is no contest here. Just because Hozier sings a song doesn’t make it a better game. Elden Ring is an an absolute masterpiece. Probably one of the best ever. GOW, although good, does not come anywhere close.

And HFW should have won over GOW in several categories.