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Astro Bot is officially the second highest-rated game of 2024

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There are tons of modern games with silent protagonists. Most RPGs where you create your characters still have silent protagonists. Persona games, Hollow Knight, Wukong, Starfield, TES, BG3, and the list goes on.

Don’t care either way. It’s never stopped a game from being lauded, so the argument that its a worse game because of this is nonsense.

2023 GOTY winner: Silent protagonist
2022 GOTY winner: Silent protagonist
2017 GOTY winner: Silent protagonist

Now it’s suddenly a problem? Don’t think so.

Non-customized silent protagonists

Gaiff Gaiff , better luck next time kid with your trolling.

You are up against the best here on GAF.
 
2024 AAA barren wasteland hellscape score-flation.

Game would have gotten a (very respectable) 89-91 if it released last generation, and I’ll die on that hill.

Still likely the GOTY and honestly, deserved. Wtf else is there to challenge it besides…rebirth?
A lot of reviewers and even people on gaf are saying it is better than Mario Odyssey, which got a 97 on metacritic. So, if this game had released last gen, odds are it will score even higher.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Non-customized silent protagonists

Gaiff Gaiff , better luck next time kid with your trolling.

You are up against the best here on GAF.
Doom 2016/Eternal, Persona 5, Hollow Knight, Ori, TOTK/BOTW and many more. Changes fucking nothing. Non-customized is also a lazy cop out because whether or not they are silent does not change the point about lazy writing that you advanced. Shepard, the DA protagonist, the one in Fallout 4, etc, are all voice acted.

Arbitrarily ruling out customized characters was clearly a way to sidestep what completely invalidates the argument and it didn’t work anyway.

Better luck next time.
 
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A lot of reviewers and even people on gaf are saying it is better than Mario Odyssey, which got a 97 on metacritic. So, if this game had released last gen, odds are it will score even higher.
Given the scores that games are getting now relative to their better and fresher last-gen counterparts, I strongly doubt that Astro Bot would have got a 94 if it released in say, 2017 or 2018.

See: Spider-Man 2018 getting an 87 to Spider-Man 2’s 90 as pretty much being the poster child of this.

87->90 is an egregiously hilarious uplift for a game that’s basically the same exact game as 2018 but with a worse story, worse writing and a somewhat disappointing “next gen” visual leap. Same exact repetitive side content too. Same map, same animations. All too familiar and without the “fresh new car smell” that the original 2018 game enjoyed. SM2 is still a “good game” by most metrics - but a 90? Really? We’re just so starved of regular, high quality AAA game releases this generation relative to previous gens that these reviewers don’t know what to do with themselves when the few good games per year do come along, thus the score inflation.

I could list a ton of other games to support my case of good/great games these days receiving over-inflated aggregate scores, but I’ve already done that and don’t wanna make another long, drawn out post with it all.
 
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Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
97 for Odyssey is utter insanity. Game was much closer to an 85 or at most 90. Higher rated than 64 or Galaxy/2 is preposterous. Weakest 3D Mario after Sunshine. Still a very good game, but absolutely not an all-timer.
 
Given the scores that games are getting now relative to their better and fresher last-gen counterparts, I strongly doubt that Astro Bot would have got a 94 if it released in say, 2017 or 2018.

See: Spider-Man 2018 getting an 87 to Spider-Man 2’s 90 as pretty much being the poster child of this.

87->90 is an egregiously hilarious uplift for a game that’s basically the same exact game as 2018 but with a worse story, worse writing and a somewhat disappointing “next gen” visual leap. Same exact repetitive side content too. Same map, same animations. All too familiar and without the “fresh new car smell” that the original 2018 game enjoyed. SM2 is still a “good game” by most metrics - but a 90? Really? We’re just so starved of regular, high quality AAA game releases this generation relative to previous gens that these reviewers don’t know what to do with themselves when the few good games per year do come along, thus the score inflation.

I could list a ton of other games to support my case of good/great games these days receiving over-inflated aggregate scores, but I’ve already done that and don’t wanna make another long, drawn out post with it all.
I am comparing it to a last gen game that many reviewers and gaf members have compared it to. Again, considering Odyssey got a 97 and this game is supposedly better( my copy hasn't arrived yet), it will score even higher if it had released during the previous gen.

I am assuming you haven't played Ragnarok. While, story wise it is a bit worse than 2018, when it comes to gameplay, side content and characters, it is far better than 2018. You can do a poll on its subreddit, if you don't believe me. Even for the story, besides 2 annoying parts, it is overall good, and still better than most other games( ubisoft can still only dream about creating a story of that level). Gameplay matters a lot and Ragnarok is hands down better than 2018. In 2018, you could spam runic attacks which dealt massive damaged and made bosses easy. Ragnarok requires you to be more tactical about, you have to actually wait for perfect moments because most runic attacks no longer stagger enemies. Not to mention the amount of boss variety and enemy variety in Ragnarok. Something that is actually a weak point, for most people, in 2018.

While I still haven't gotten around to playing Spiderman 2 yet, I believe it is a similar case over there. A slightly worse story, alleviated by better gameplay, better side content, better traversal and better enemy variety.

The reason most people complain about the sequels more is because expectations are higher. Also, for Sony games, lots of people expect more from the story and also discuss about the story more prominently because they are, arguably the best, when it comes to it. You require a good narrative in Sony games and while Spiderman 2 and Ragnarok have great narratives( assuming with spiderman2), they are worse compared to their prequels. The complains that you have seen are about the story, not the other elements of the game. The elements that the sequels have improved upon from the prequels. It is the same with forbidden west when compared to zero dawn. Same with you 2 compared to tlou 1. Probably the same with GoT 2 compared to GoT 1.

They are getting better review scores because they are a better game than their prequels, it is just the vocal minority and people who mainly give higher weightage to story that are complaining about the sequels. I know this, because I am one of them. I love reading books, and I give an unfair weightage to narrative. That's why gow 2018 is my favourite game of all time, yet I can recognise that as a game Ragnarok is better
 
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Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
I am assuming you haven't played Ragnarok. While, story wise it is a bit worse than 2018, when it comes to gameplay, side content and characters, it is far better than 2018. You can do a poll on its subreddit, if you don't believe me. Even for the story, besides 2 annoying parts, it is overall good, and still better than most other games( ubisoft can still only dream about creating a story of that level). Gameplay matters a lot and Ragnarok is hands down better than 2018. In 2018, you could spam runic attacks which dealt massive damaged and made bosses easy. Ragnarok requires you to be more tactical about, you have to actually wait for perfect moments because most runic attacks no longer stagger enemies. Not to mention the amount of boss variety and enemy variety in Ragnarok. Something that is actually a weak point, for most people, in 2018.
The characters in Ragnarok are shit. The pacing is much worse and the level design really hasn’t improved aside from having even more puzzles. Ragnarok does combat better and that’s it. It’s a regression or stagnation in almost everything else.

We can now return to our scheduled program.
 

Raven117

Member
I agree with you, lately I've been noticing ambitious new IP's that push fidelity and such have been getting weirdly scrutinized to harsh extents this gen.

Whereas FROM games and titles like astrobot are getting love immediately. It's like we're in an era wanting stripped down, old school shit only now.
I think that it’s simply a matter of games being too bloated and just not very fun to play.

The old school stuff… thr stuff we grew up playing was first and foremost… fun.

That’s why astro bot is getting the love. It’s just a joy to play and is fun.
 

Vick

Gold Member
Well deserved #1 spot.
Can't put the pad down, one last PS5 missing piece to recover. Has been consistently fresh and creative and perfectly executed, the whole damn time. Highest quality platformer I've played, personally.

The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered being on it already invalidates the list.
The roguelike mode No Return included in the Remaster alone would warrant that score.
Game plays several generations above the competition to the point it's simply depressing.
 

Hudo

Member
Well deserved #1 spot.
Can't put the pad down, one last PS5 missing piece to recover. Has been consistently fresh and creative and perfectly executed, the whole damn time. Highest quality platformer I've played, personally.


The roguelike mode No Return included in the Remaster alone would warrant that score.
Game plays several generations above the competition to the point it's simply depressing.
I disagree. The game was a step back (in some instances even several steps back) from the first TLoU. The encounter design was boring and predictable. The level design was less interesting; they clearly wanted the levels to feel more open but couldn't pull it off in a fun way. The story in terms of writing, pacing and presentation was several steps back. It's like Druckmann forgot how to write and direct a game. The way they set up the character motivation for the revenge story and how they sprinkled the game with cheap gore moments, really felt just cheap and out of place. The combat itself felt, due to the poor encounter design, became boring quite fast. And it didn't feel snappy enough, and the hit responses didn't feel satisfying enough for the mechanics to carry themselves, imho. I think TLoU 1 balanced that far better. The graphics are nice, though.

I didn't play the rogue-like mode. But I am also not the biggest fan of roguelike stuff in non-roguelike games. But I can see how that might be fun.

TLoU 2 was so disappointing to me that it managed to kill any interested I had in any future Naughty Dog game. And I consider TLoU 1 to be among my favorite games.

TL;DR: I guess we disagree, which is OK.
 

RainyNguyen

Member
The game has tech issues, invisible walls, silent protagonist and is basically a button mashing boss rush game. That's why it lost points. It has nothing to do with being made by a Chinese studio. Thats a silly culture war narrative. Nobody care who made the game, unless they're liberal

If people have to read a book or watch something else entirely to understand the story, that's bad game design. Add in the lack of narrative storytelling, and you realize the Unreal 5 Engine is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. I'm enjoying the game, but it's not a masterpiece
I just want to explain why the Destiny One being mute and having almost no emotional expression (while other characters perform well) is related to the storyline. Because he is merely a clone created from a single hair of Wukong, and lacks the six roots (relics), he/we has to find them all to revive the Great Sage.

The six roots are the six components that make up a person, including: eyes (sight), ears (hearing), nose (smell), tongue (taste), body (touch), and mind (thought). From these six roots, one can perceive the 'six dusts': appearance, sound, scent, sensation and phenomena. When these are perceived, six consciousnesses arise: eye consciousness (seeing), ear consciousness (hearing), nose consciousness (smelling), tongue consciousness (tasting), body consciousness (feeling), and mind consciousness (thinking).

Each of these roots, perceptions, and consciousnesses is associated with six afflictions: greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views, which together form the 108 human afflictions.
 
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EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Game looks fun.
Kamala Harris Period GIF by Election 2020
 

Boss Mog

Member
Why is DLC being counted as a new game? In terms of actual new games that released this year Astro Bot is #1, period.
 

Trilobit

Member
Is Astro Bot the Mario for Sony? It's quite sad that there have been so few games like this. Especially kids should love them, I know I was absolutely crazy about Crash, Spyro, Jak & Daxter and Sly Cooper as a kid. Platforming is life.

I think it's time for Sony to especially dust off the Sly Cooper IP and give it to another great studio if SP doesn't want to revisit it. Perhaps the sales numbers for Thieves in Time weren't that stellar because it wasn't made by a better studio. Either way Sly has been one of the most popular games on Plus Premium:
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is now the most popular classic game on PlayStation Plus Premium.

The next game doesn't need to have more playable characters than the classic trio. Just pump it with charm and amazing heists and tight controls and great cel-shading and I'll be game.
 
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