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[Forbes] New ‘God Of War Ragnarok’ Trailer Showcases A Clear ‘Elden Ring’ GOTY Competitor

3liteDragon

3liteDragon

Member
www.forbes.com

New ‘God Of War Ragnarok’ Trailer Showcases A Clear ‘Elden Ring’ GOTY Competitor

We really may have a race on our hands for Game of the Year, despite Elden Ring’s clear position as frontrunner, which has not been shaken since its debut in February.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com
While I am as skeptical of lightning striking twice as anyone, I have to say, everything I’ve seen from God of War Ragnarok indicates to me that Sony Santa Monica may just do it again, and produce a more than worthy sequel to what I would consider the best single player game of the previous generation. And we really may have a race on our hands for Game of the Year 2022, despite Elden Ring’s clear position as frontrunner, which has not been shaken since its debut in February.

Yesterday brought with it a mostly Japanese-focused Sony PlayStation State of Play, but it ended with what is without question the best trailer we’ve gotten out of God of War yet, full of iconic imagery (the wolves chasing the moon) and great lines (“Death can have me, when it has earned me”). It also seems to me like the trailer was tasked with showing as much footage as possible to differentiate this game from the last one, with the (very stupid) joke that Ragnarok is just “DLC” for the first game rather than a full sequel. That’s just console war nonsense, and it’s clear that Ragnarok is shaping up to look incredible, and we have no better vision of that than this excellent trailer.

As for whether I think God of War Ragnarok or Elden Ring will take home GOTY from most outlets (and I guess the one that “matters” now is The Game Awards), that’s complicated. I feel like you could have something just as high quality as the first game, but the nature of it being a sequel would mean it would have to go well above and beyond the first game to attract the same level of attention and accolades. Elden Ring, meanwhile, is a sales monster, an instant-classic IP and a crowning achievement from one of the best developers in the entire industry.

It’s going to be hard to compete. Of course the correct answer here is “everyone wins.” Even as this has been a relatively light year overall with so many pandemic-induced delays, the fact that both Elden Ring and Ragnarok will hit this year is something all by itself. Originally, this could have been a three-way race with Xbox’s Starfield, but that was delayed until 2023 where then, I supposed, it will be a frontrunner for GOTY if past Fallout and Elder Scrolls entries from Bethesda are any indication. Though as a totally new IP, that’s making a lot of assumptions.

I am impressed that Sony Santa Monica did not have to hit God of War Ragnarok with another delay, though I suppose it already had a year-long one, with the hilarious notion it was originally supposed to be out in 2021, which no one believed. Even still, I would have lost money guessing that Starfield, with its very prominently announced holiday 2022 date, would be delayed and Ragnarok would not, when all was said and done. Just two more months now…
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DeepEnigma

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Brace Yourself Episode 2 GIF by RuPaul's Drag Race
 
ChiefDada

ChiefDada

Gold Member
ThatOneGrunt said:
Why do people keep saying this when no one has played this game yet?
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Because to some extent it's a known quantity, being the follow up to a previous GOTY winner. More importantly, everything they have shown seems to address all of the issues people had with the 2018 title (enemy variety) while doubling down on everything that made 2018 game so great.

I do believe recency bias could be a powerful differentiator here, but either way both titles are awesome candidates.

But after seeing that trailer, I am much more interested in which game receives the most accolades for best art direction!
 
Aenima

Aenima

Member
FACTS!

As much as i enjoyed Elden Ring, the game is way overrated and far from my favorite FromSoft game. Dunno and dont care who ends up grabbing more GOTY awards but this year the fight will be between Elden Ring and GoW Ragnarok.

GT7 is actually my current GOTY but I dont see it getting many awards outside the racing cathegory.
 
SlimySnake

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
It's going to be like it was in 2018 when it split awards with RDR2. VGAs could go either way. They gave it to Sekiro over Death Stranding after giving kojima best director which was bizarre. So they must love fromsoft, but they also gave it to GOW so who knows. It will be close either way.

I personally think that the gameplay is going to feel incredibly stale and samey. The few videos they have shown so far dont really feature any brand new mechanics. No Uncharted 1 to Uncharted 2 or AC1 to AC2 leap. It's going to be more of the same, and those games typically dont win too many GOTY awards. See how no one is even talking about HFW this year despite the first finishing runner up to BOTW. GOW is going to have some epic setpieces and boss fights as shown in the trailer, but the sameyness will hurt it in GOTY voting even if it scores really high.

Or It might be treated like GOW2. An epic masterpiece that was held back by the PS2 and overshadowed by Mass Effect, Bioshock, Uncharted and Halo 3 despite some incredible setpieces, boss fights and probably the best campaign of the lot. I think Elden Rings also feels too samey but clearly the critics didnt think so. Probably impressed by the new open world design and ignored the samey combat.
 
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Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
SlimySnake said:
I personally think that the gameplay is going to feel incredibly stale and samey. The few videos they have shown so far dont really feature any brand new mechanics. No Uncharted 1 to Uncharted 2 or AC1 to AC2 leap. It's going to be more of the same, and those games typically dont win too many GOTY awards.
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Well let me tell you about a game called ... Elden Ring.
 
Fbh

Fbh

Member
Yeah I can see it taking a lot of awards. Game journos love cienmatic stories in games and Ragnarok will probably nail that aspect.
 
Gamerguy84

Gamerguy84

Member
Never been a big fan of these premature articles. We know its got production value behind it. Just let the game come out first before wr start this kind of hype.

Obvioisly im a big fan but i dont care to put the cart in front of the horse.
 
SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
God of War looks gorgeous as expected, and I fucking love Kratos.

But it’s just a totally different experience. For me God of War 2018 just wasn’t in the same league, and I don’t see drastic changes happening with Ragnarok.
 
ChorizoPicozo

ChorizoPicozo

Member
SmokedMeat said:
God of War looks gorgeous as expected, and I fucking love Kratos.

But it’s just a totally different experience. For me God of War 2018 just wasn’t in the same league, and I don’t see drastic changes happening with Ragnarok.
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2018 GoW was made at the same time as their engine. Also, they were trying to solve the camera issue. And come up with a different design language (gameplay-level design) = Huge constraints.

This one has to be better in every aspect.

Furthermore the story in the first one was just setting up.
 
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Captain Toad

Captain Toad

Banned
Hendrick's said:
They were dumb then. Sequels don't have a good shot unless there is no original content as competition. Elden Ring is the GOTY.
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It's my GOTY. Probably top 3 of all-time for me. But, GoW was also my second favorite game from all of last gen, right behind Bloodborne.

That latest quick trailer though. Damn. It looks pretty impressive.
 
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B

Balducci30

Member
I mean what other games are even in the conversation this year? I highly doubt GOW will outdo Elden Ring for me personally. But I’m open minded. The first one definitely wasn’t close to Elden ring-level but maybe they’ve really upped their game.

Some people didn’t like Elden Ring or felt it was super overrated - but I think that’s a minority.
 
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