2017 Game Awards Nominees

Cfighter · Nov 14, 2017

What's good feller gamers (or I'm at least assuming you're a fellow gamer if you clicked on this thread), the 2017 Game Awards Nominees have recently been revealed and available for us all to cast our votes for who we want to win -- however I believe as of writing this there is a bug in their system because it wont actually let me cast any votes when I click the button. So I figured I'd do the next best thing in the meantime and make a thread about the video game awards on a Naruto forum and give my opinions on them. Yay me.

If you haven't already seen this years round up,

You must be registered for see links

.

Alright, so again since I for some reason can't vote there yet, here are my personal choices for what games I think deserve to win:

Game of the Year
Super Mario Odyssey

I'm ok with the nominees for game of the year, but they are all the most predictable titles to be nominated. Truth be told of the nominees for GotY, I've only played Horizon Zero Dawn - and while it's a great game, I personally don't believe it to be GotY material. As for the others, Battlegrounds is the least worthy of GotY out of the bunch and if it does win then that is undeniable proof that GotY is rigged to favor games that sold the most units. Persona 5 seems like too much of a niche game to win, and both Zelda and Mario might as well have been shipped with the statement "winner of GotY" on the damn boxes because people have been praising the shit out of both of them at launch. I don't own a Switch, so I can't really vote for either, but from what I've seen of both Mario seems like the better entertainment to me.

Best Game Direction
Horizon Zero Dawn

Considering the description for this category specifies "innovation in game direction and design", I truly feel only Horizon owns up to that claim. Wolfenstein and Resident Evil are both great games, but I never felt like they innovated much. Again I don't own a Switch so I can't personally vouch for Zelda/Mario but from I've seen they also don't seem to really innovate much when it comes to game direction/design. Horizon however, despite featuring the most basic open world mechanics, felt fresh and unique right from the opening moment of the game. It may not be GotY to me, but I will definitely remember it for a long time to come if nothing else but for the game direction.

Best Narrative
NieR Automata

This is absolutely a no contest scenario for me - NieR Automata is in my opinion the game I would nominate for GotY in a heartbeat. Seriously, if you own a PS4/decent gaming PC and you haven't played this game yet, you owe it to yourself to experience this game as I would join the many others who boldly claim this to be the masterpiece of the generation. I would claim it to be an under-the-radar classic, but it surprisingly sold very well. Just not well enough for GotY apparently.

Best Art Direction
Destiny 2 Cuphead

lmao wtf is Destiny 2 doing in this category, step aside. It doesn't take a gamer to realize within just a few minutes of gameplay why Cuphead is undeniably the game with the best art direction this year.

Best Score/Music
NieR Automata

Once again, I find it criminal that NieR Automata wasn't nominated for GotY but I am very happy to see it being recognized for several other categories. The soundtrack to NieR is not only one of the best parts of the game, but it's so good that by the time I finished the game I had already accepted the soundtrack to be ranked up with some of the greatest/classic video game soundtracks of all time. I apologize if it sounds like I'm just riding NieR Automata's d*ck at this point, but seriously go play this game if you are able to.

Best Audio Design
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

I feel that because of the very subject manor and way it was presented in this game, that had they successfully pulled it off in the execution the game would win this category by default. Thankfully, they did pull off the psychological effect they set out to inflict on players with nothing but the audio design, which is why I feel that by default it is the most impressive use of sound in any game this year.

Best Performance
Melina Juergens, Hellblade

To be honest, most of the nominated performances didn't do much for me. But my vote is for Hellblade, once again just because best performance goes hand-in-hand with the audio design.

Games for Impact
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Of the games nominated, Hellblade was the only one I've played and the only other game I've even so much as heard of is the Life is Strange prequel. So Hellblade gets my default vote just because I literally don't know what the others are.

Best Ongoing Game
GTA Online

The realist side of my brain knows that Overwatch will once again claim another win (don't get me started on that from last years awards) but considering the category clearly defines best ongoing game as a game that "evolves the experience over time" I think GTA Online should deserve the win with all of the constant updates and additions to the online service.

Best Mobile Game
I don't got time for dem mobile gamez

Best Handheld Game
Didn't I just say, "I don't got time for dem mobile gamez"?

Best VR/AR Game
Resident Evil 7

I haven't had the luxury of actually using a gaming VR headset yet but I would like to think that Resident Evil 7 deserves this win seeing that its the only AAA game that can be played from start to finish entirely in VR. That has always intrigued me and I still to this day want to try it in VR at some point.

Best Action Game
Nioh

This one was a pretty tough choice for me - you know once you rule out Destiny, since the only "action" in that game is grinding enemies endlessly - but after giving it some though Nioh is really the only game that fits the bill of an "action" game. All the other game (Destiny included) are all shooters, or in Cuphead's case a platformer.

Best Action/Adventure Game
Zelda Breath of the Wild

Again, doesn't seem like my kind of game but I wont deny that when it comes to the action/adventure nominees none of them come even close to the caliber of Breath of the Wild.

Best Role Playing Game
NieR Automata

Here me out on this because I could easily someone arguing that either South Park or perhaps Persona 5 are better when it comes to the RPG elements, but the reason why I personally believe NieR deserves the win in this category as well is because this is the first time I've ever seen an RPG actually do something new when it comes to character progression and customization. The way the RPG system works in NieR literally makes it so that you can play the game just about any which way you want to go about it. I won't explain how it all works, so if you're curious either look it up or you know - play the game

Best Fighting Game
Whichever fighting game doesn't charge you hand-over-fist to play the full game

Best Family Game
Mario + Rabbits Kingdom Battle

I believe that this is the only nominated game that offers non-competitive coop play. Which may sound like a bizarre reason to solely vote for it, until you remember that the category is "best family game" at which point coop is kind of essential for that.

Best Strategy Game
I don't got time for dem strategy gamez

Best Sports/Racing Game
I DEFINITELY don't got time for dem sports/racing gamez

Best Multiplayer
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

I mean this one should honestly be a given, especially when compared to the other nominees.

Most Anticipated Game
Last of Us 2

This category is entirely personal choice, and I personally am super excited for Last of Us 2.

Best Independent Game
Cuphead

As I mentioned before, it only takes a few minutes to appreciate Cuphead for the technical/independent masterpiece that it is. But a very close second in this category would be Hellblade just for what it stands for to the independent and even larger gaming community as a whole.

And to be honest, the rest of the categories neither apply to me nor do I care for them to even list.

Souji · Nov 15, 2017

Here are my predictions versus my personal choices:

Game of the Year:

Breath of the Wild/Super Mario Odyssey. Personally, I want Persona 5 to win (I'm a HUGE Persona fan), and maybe there's a universe where Zelda and Mario split the vote to give it to Persona 5. I wouldn't call Persona a niche series anymore, the 5th game has definitely increased its visibility, especially among Playstation owners.

Best Game Direction:

Breath of the Wild. This is also my personal choice. Hoping to get a Switch by the end of the year so I can play this masterpiece. I've been yearning to go back to Nintendo consoles for a while (I do play their portables, though), and I'm excited to see their take on the open world.

Best Narrative:

Wolfenstein/Horizon Zero Dawn. I haven't played NieR (though again, something I want to do), but I feel the first two will probably be considered for their cutscenes, themes, and overall production value. As a disclaimer, I haven't played either of them.

Best Art Direction:

Cuphead. Honestly, if Cuphead didn't come out this year, it would have easily gone to Persona 5 (the menus and UI alone draw much inspiration). All the nominees are excellent though, even Destiny 2 with its slick, clean style. This is one category where I'd be happy with whoever was nominated as the winner.

Best Score/Music:

'You'll never see it coming
You'll see that my mind is too fast for eyes
You're done in
By the time it's hit you, your last surprise'

Best Audio Design:

Destiny 2/Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.

Best Performance:

Claudia Black/Laura Bailey for Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Haven't played the others so I can't speak for them.

Games for Impact:

Bury Me, My Love. Just watching the trailer makes it seem pretty relevant to current events.

Best Ongoing Game:

I like Overwatch and still play it regularly for events.

Best Mobile Game:

Monument Valley 2/Super Mario Run. I enjoyed both! Mobile games have a long way in establishing their credibility but I believe the set here are great first steps.

Best Handheld Game:

Yoshi or Metroid because Nintendo owns the handheld market, which is NOT the mobile market.

Best VR/AR Game:

Farpoint or Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Someone want to donate to the 'get Souji VR and a Switch' fund so I can make a proper decision?

Best Action Game:

Cuphead/Nioh, because difficult games are the darlings of this category.

Best Action/Adventure Game:

Super Mario Odyssey/Breath of the Wild. Nintendo REALLY killed it this year.

Best Role Playing Game:

Persona 5.

Best Fighting Game:

Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite? Not really into fighting games other than Super Smash Bros.

Best Family Game:

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Best Strategy Game:

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.

Best Sports/Racing Game:

GT Sport/Forza Motosport 7.

Best Multiplayer:

I hear a lot about PUBG but haven't played it. I'd say this is another category where I wouldn't lose sleep over whoever won.

Most Anticipated Game:

Red Dead Redemption 2 for me, followed closely by The Last of Us 2. I've been replaying The Last of Us Remastered in preparation for the latter. If they released Red Dead for the Switch...

Best Independent Game:

Cuphead. Y U NO COME TO PS4 YET?!