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[Boneless]

The elden ring love is awkward the combat doesn’t feel natural everything is hidden, the #1 motivation for a game shouldn’t be difficulty.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Beating Wither 3 and TLOU2

Honestly this is mind blowing. Best game I will never finish and ever uninstall.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

There is no worse feeling that going through 40 minute cave, beating a boss repeat or enemy with a health bar... and getting some shit miracle spell. yay
Then o it 12 times over

You hit the nail on the head for me. Multiple things I dislike but this is by far the main thing. Searching for areas to explore, like caves and catacombs, are a complete waste of time. It can take forever to just find one, and once you do your reward is a copy and paste boss (who are so damn generic compared to other From bosses). Then after you defeat them, you get a shit item or weapon and barely any runes.

 

[Madflavor]

You hit the nail on the head for me. Multiple things I dislike but this is by far the main thing. Searching for areas to explore, like caves and catacombs, are a complete waste of time. It can take forever to just find one, and once you do your reward is a copy and paste boss (who are so damn generic compared to other From bosses). Then after you defeat them, you get a shit item or weapon and barely any runes.

It's crazy how some people view the game this way. A lot of the best weapons and spells in the game are obtained from optional areas. My last playthrough I used this sword for much of the game that I got from a catacomb:


There are a ton of different builds in the game. Of course you're going to come across gear that doesn't fit your build. That doesn't mean you completely wasted your time. In these optional areas you still gain Runes and materials to upgrade Spirit Ashes if you use them. Early optional caves/dungeons in the game don't yield a lot of Runes, but mid to late game ones do. On top of that the game gives you a TON of leeway to respec your character, so if you want to rebuild your character mid game to use some of the "useless" gear you found, you can do that.

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

At the end of the day it’s all just the same bias, to say some of those TLOU2 awards were fake or low effort and then finding votes on obscure Spanish and Portuguese market sites is just funny.

I can almost guarantee this much effort will not be put into this next year.

Well theres a group of people doing this one , its objectively a better system they are doing than when they were doing it for tlou2...i think people think they are trying to take away from tluo2 by saying the system wasnt perfect...its been improved upon and now they have a better filter for valid and invalid goty selections.

 

[FunkMiller]

The game is about making you feel. Like... real feelings. you are supposed to be a mad, angry, sad and empathizing.
There is nothing lazy about it's writing.

Well, that's your opinion, and of course you're entitled to it, but I can see plenty of instances where the writing could have, and should have been better - at the quality of the first game. TLOU1 certainly made me feel a great deal more of a range of emotions than TLOU2. Largely because it didn't batter me over the head constantly with the point it was trying to make. TLOU2 is unsubtle, to say the least, and you can only take so much heavy handed writing, before it starts to grate.

Great use of a fabulous Pearl Jam song though... even if its use is as on the nose and blunt as so much of the game's narrative.

 

[Madflavor]

Well theres a group of people doing this one , its objectively a better system they are doing than when they were doing it for tlou2...i think people think they are trying to take away from tluo2 by saying the system wasnt perfect...its been improved upon and now they have a better filter for valid and invalid goty selections.

And for reference, these are the new guidelines they use moving forward:

• At least two staff members need to be part of the award selection process.
  • It must be made visibly clear by the outlet that the GOTY has been chosen by more than one staff member. There are a lot of articles being published by single individual; they or the language must make it clear that their GOTY have been chosen by the staff through voting, discussions or a collaborative agreement. You can very easily tell is a GOTY has been chosen by an single individual if the site/gaming portion is mostly filled with articles written by the same individual.
• Digital media outlets such as Podcast and Video Sharing Sites are not required to have their own website/domain name, but they must prove to have either well known members of the gaming industry, have a respectable amount of followers/subscribers and/or must have been active and producing content for at least a year.
• Outlets posting awards and/or having an eligibility cutoff before November 1st for the current year will not be counted.
• If a tie occurs, then both winners will be counted.
  • The number of titles awarded needs to be fewer than the number of staff on the voting team. For example, an outlet with three voting staff members cannot simply name each of their separate, personal favorites as the three different winners and call that a draw; if those three staff members have two titles tie as the result of a points system however, those two titles would be eligible. A maximum of three titles will be accepted as a points-based draw.
• If a media outlet has their staff members choose their own personal GOTYs. Then the title(s) with the chosen majority will be considered that media outlet's overall GOTY winner.

 

[Fake]

Elden Ring is GOAT.

 

[Topher]

I'm waiting to see where 2022's total will end up. If the overall total ends up in the 450 - 525 range again then I wouldn't be convinced that 2022 only had a couple dozen selections that shouldn't have been counted. I know things come and go, but the 200 difference is just too big to simply write off as a couple of dozen suspect selections. I'm not just talking about individual social media accounts with a tiny following. I mean I don't have much else to say on the matter until the dust settles. If 2022's GOTY award total edges closer to the 644 total that 2020 had, then I'd be more open minded.

I looked at the social media selections because that is what was being pointed out as the culprit for "pumping the number up". Don't know who started that line of thinking, but it was a false narrative. You said previously that TLOU 2 was still receiving votes in April. So if selection counting continues on this year through April then I could easily see numbers getting that high. Either way, that total number by itself isn't enough to draw any real conclusions from. Not sure why it even matters now that Elden Ring has the crown regardless.

 

[Ellery]

Personal GOTY well well ahead of God of War Ragnarok and I hope to see gigantic DLC soon.

Can't wait to jump in again.

 

[Madflavor]

I looked at the social media selections because that is what was being pointed out as the culprit for "pumping the number up". Don't know who started that line of thinking, but it was a false narrative. You said previously that TLOU 2 was still receiving votes in April. So if selection counting continues on this year through April then I could easily see numbers getting that high. Either way, that total number by itself isn't enough to draw any real conclusions from. Not sure why it even matters now that Elden Ring has the crown regardless.

I'm very open minded that could happen. I don't know if 2022 will play out close to the way 2020 did, I'd still be surprised if it does.

 

[DForce]

Well theres a group of people doing this one , its objectively a better system they are doing than when they were doing it for tlou2...i think people think they are trying to take away from tluo2 by saying the system wasnt perfect...its been improved upon and now they have a better filter for valid and invalid goty selections.

I pointed this out in another thread and people couldn't come up with an answer to why these websites for Elden Ring were being counted. The fact is, people used these accusations to discredit the 300+ awards TLOU 2 was given back in 2020.

I think it's clear more than ever that people just didn't like the fact that TLOU 2 was winning all these awards and they needed a reason to discredit it. With Elden Ring winning/dethroning TLOU 2 only means that they now believe those awards were at least legitimate because they cannot say Elden Ring's awards are legit and then say TLOU 2 awards are fake.

 

[Fredrik]

Couldnt disagree more. 99% of the stuff i found while exploring didnt apply to my builds. It was all a waste of time.

The Souls games and BB were far more rewarding with rings, weapons, and gear that actually helped you become stronger.

?
From exploration you get talismans, rare weapons, spirit ashes, pots, memory stones, talisman pouches, sorceries, incantations, upgrade parts, ashes of war, and more that actually help you become stronger. Plus, well, runes and NPCs and some of the coolest areas and bosses.

 

[xpresstuning]

You hit the nail on the head for me. Multiple things I dislike but this is by far the main thing. Searching for areas to explore, like caves and catacombs, are a complete waste of time. It can take forever to just find one, and once you do your reward is a copy and paste boss (who are so damn generic compared to other From bosses). Then after you defeat them, you get a shit item or weapon and barely any runes.

35% of the stuff i find works with my build, which is quite a good percentage considering that there is more build diversity in Elden Ring than ever before. It's insane how many there are.

So here's my point of view which might help you out. Every single weapon is viable to complete the game with and 90% of them are fun to use; You can later on respec your character to use the weapons you find, the spells, the talismans etc., if your stats don't allow it. And shit, if you don't like it, you can respec to your previous build. The thing required to respec isn't that rare, i got like 10 of those randomly (and i already respec'd 2 times just to play some build out lol). I don't know, or you could distribute your points so multiple weapons are viable for your build? Or keep the shit you find because the lore on them is fun to read anyway, collect them, and later down the road do a different build on New Game +.

Think of it like this. You do Tunnel dungeons for weapon upgrade materials, and you do Catacombs for Spirit Upgrade materials. Whatever else you find is a bonus. And you'll always gain runes (if you're getting barely any runes, then you're way overleveled for the area your in) which personally is my 2nd biggest incentive to explore new caves/catacombs/tunnels. My 1st biggest incentive is because i wanna keep killing stuff, because the combat is mad fun.

And caves/catacombs/tunnels aren't that big a deal. They're a side dish. They're a relatively small portion of the content and they're not even close to being my personal incentive to explore. They're barely on my fucking radar, lol.

Have you gotten to places like Nokron yet? You doing Ranni's quest? The forts?

 

[SlimySnake]

?
From exploration you get talismans, rare weapons, spirit ashes, pots, memory stones, talisman pouches, sorceries, incantations, upgrade parts, ashes of war, and more that actually help you become stronger. Plus, well, runes and NPCs and some of the coolest areas and bosses.

none of those things helped me with my build. I just felt like i was getting random stuff still rocking my starting longsword after like 12-15 hours. By that time, you are half way to two thirds of the way done in souls games and are fully decked out. they felt far more rewarding.

the other day, i decided to go back, give the game another shot, and killed a dragon. i got some dragon item that i didnt even know what to do with.

 

[Mephisto40]

You hit the nail on the head for me. Multiple things I dislike but this is by far the main thing. Searching for areas to explore, like caves and catacombs, are a complete waste of time. It can take forever to just find one, and once you do your reward is a copy and paste boss (who are so damn generic compared to other From bosses). Then after you defeat them, you get a shit item or weapon and barely any runes.

Well yeh, the weapons are shit that you get from the end of dungeons because they aren't upgraded...

 

[rofif]

Well, that's your opinion, and of course you're entitled to it, but I can see plenty of instances where the writing could have, and should have been better - at the quality of the first game. TLOU1 certainly made me feel a great deal more of a range of emotions than TLOU2. Largely because it didn't batter me over the head constantly with the point it was trying to make. TLOU2 is unsubtle, to say the least, and you can only take so much heavy handed writing, before it starts to grate.

Great use of a fabulous Pearl Jam song though... even if its use is as on the nose and blunt as so much of the game's narrative.

tlou2 should've been quality of tlou1? Have you ever replayed that game?
This is just mad talk. Tlou2 is way better, higher quality and emotionally impactful for me.
tlou1 is kinda... boring if you replay it nowadays.

Dont get me wrong. I've even bought part1 remake. It's glorious but it hits a bit dry compared to 2nd game.
People got muddy nostalgia feeling because of that ending.

 

[gow3isben]

Can Ragnarok reach hundo? It was 80 last I checked

 

[Clear]

Why does that matter? There are plenty of multi-platform games every year that haven't done what Elden Ring has done.

Well, how often do you see outlets that serve a particular platform review titles that aren't available on it? Let alone award them GOTY?

It just shows how stupid the whole meta-review idea is. Basically the "data" being tabulated isn't the game, its the review scores. And if those scores come from different sources, and in randomly varying quantities... how's that supposed to work on an equal and comparative footing?

That's just scratching the surface of how silly this all is when it comes to judging GOTY.

I happen to like Elden Ring way more as a game than TLOU2, but pretty inarguably on an artistic and technical level Naughty Dog's work is way superior to FROM's despite being an older game. So if you were to ask me which is better, then it really depends on the criteria factored into my answer.

People really need to stop taking random subjective opinions in random quantities, munging them together with elementary math, and acting like some sort of quasi scientific truth is being revealed! Its not. And in fact its mainly just a product of selection bias in a fundamentally broken experimental model.

 

[xpresstuning]

none of those things helped me with my build. I just felt like i was getting random stuff still rocking my starting longsword after like 12-15 hours. By that time, you are half way to two thirds of the way done in souls games and are fully decked out. they felt far more rewarding.

the other day, i decided to go back, give the game another shot, and killed a dragon. i got some dragon item that i didnt even know what to do with.

That's very early game, man. Can't speak for the other games because i haven't played them (well, i have played DSII, but not close to completion, fuck that shit game) but Dark Souls Remastered took around 40 hours and i basically took my time exploring n' doing everything plus doing the DLC as well.

I'm 86 hours into Elden Ring and i just think i'm half way through. And i haven't explored everything in the areas i'm done with. I'm just done with 'em because i overleveled them way too much (i like to grind haha) so there's no point in doing them. If i miss out an item i could potentially use, i miss out, so be it. Let's say i cut out 10 hours, in which i just grinded, died randomly, died to bosses. That's still 76 hours.

I suggest upgrading that longsword to like +6, and organically progress.

And in some cases it's also worth knowing what to expect. Like i said above with the caves and stuff. Like dragons? They drop dragon hearts, which you can use at Dragon Communion Churches (don't worry, you'll find them). They're basically currency to buy some kick ass dragon spells. But if you don't use them, or don't plan to ever use them, then you still got the runes outta that battle.

 

[squarealex]

Dark Souls 4 win

 

[Fredrik]

none of those things helped me with my build. I just felt like i was getting random stuff still rocking my starting longsword after like 12-15 hours. By that time, you are half way to two thirds of the way done in souls games and are fully decked out. they felt far more rewarding.

This is a ”you” thing. I mean I still rock my starter temple knight set and halberd in Demon’s Souls in my current run 2/3 through the game.

Thing is, you always have the choice to drop your starter set and swap to something better, and it’s highly recommended. Without exploration 99.9% of gamers will struggle unless we’re talking about extreme git gud type of wretch with a club gamers. Good lucking going straight to Margit and Godrick and Rennala etc with your non-upgraded starter set

I’m proud enough to still rock my starter wolves, but I’ve upgraded them through optional catacomb exploration, and while I still have the early Bloodhound’s Fang sword I got from optional stuff I upgraded that too from dungeon exploration.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

35% of the stuff i find works with my build, which is quite a good percentage considering that there is more build diversity in Elden Ring than ever before. It's insane how many there are.

So here's my point of view which might help you out. Every single weapon is viable to complete the game with and 90% of them are fun to use; You can later on respec your character to use the weapons you find, the spells, the talismans etc., if your stats don't allow it. And shit, if you don't like it, you can respec to your previous build. The thing required to respec isn't that rare, i got like 10 of those randomly (and i already respec'd 2 times just to play some build out lol). I don't know, or you could distribute your points so multiple weapons are viable for your build? Or keep the shit you find because the lore on them is fun to read anyway, collect them, and later down the road do a different build on New Game +.

Think of it like this. You do Tunnel dungeons for weapon upgrade materials, and you do Catacombs for Spirit Upgrade materials. Whatever else you find is a bonus. And you'll always gain runes (if you're getting barely any runes, then you're way overleveled for the area your in) which personally is my 2nd biggest incentive to explore new caves/catacombs/tunnels. My 1st biggest incentive is because i wanna keep killing stuff, because the combat is mad fun.

And caves/catacombs/tunnels aren't that big a deal. They're a side dish. They're a relatively small portion of the content and they're not even close to being my personal incentive to explore. They're barely on my fucking radar, lol.

Have you gotten to places like Nokron yet? You doing Ranni's quest? The forts?

I doubt it but honestly don't know areas I've gotten to, as I really don't pay attention to the names (same with npcs). I just did the underground area that's always night near the beginning of the game. The exploration is just such a turn off for me, that I end up just don't enjoy playing it. Think I need to just put it down for a week and see if care to come back to it. As of now, it's just a chore for me to play.

 

[xpresstuning]

I doubt it but honestly don't know areas I've gotten to, as I really don't pay attention to the names (same with npcs). I just did the underground area that's always night near the beginning of the game. The exploration is just such a turn off for me, that I end up just don't enjoy playing it. Think I need to just put it down for a week and see if care to come back to it. As of now, it's just a chore for me to play.

Yeah, i can't get it. Maybe you're prioritizing tangible rewards that must work with your current build as your only incentive for exploration? If that's the case then that .. sucks, it just doesn't work that way for the game to be enjoyable because of its nature. If that is what your perspective is, then i understand completely . I made a few points in my previous post that you quoted that might help you out.

 

[FunkMiller]

tlou2 should've been quality of tlou1? Have you ever replayed that game?
This is just mad talk. Tlou2 is way better, higher quality and emotionally impactful for me.
tlou1 is kinda... boring if you replay it nowadays.

Dont get me wrong. I've even bought part1 remake. It's glorious but it hits a bit dry compared to 2nd game.
People got muddy nostalgia feeling because of that ending.

Is that the muddy nostalgia for the subtle, thoughtful, clever , ambiguous ending, as opposed to the blunt as shit, hammer you over the head, bucket of dumb stuff from part 2? I’m replaying it right now, and it’s just so tiresome.

Hey look, we’re not going to agree on this, and that’s fine.

For my part though, Elden Ring is leaps and bounds above TLOU2 as a complete package, and deserves to be at the top. It also didn’t have to lie to its audience to sell itself, which is something that deserves to be rewarded.

 

[Flutta]

FROM BEST GAME DEV IN THE BIZZZZZ!!!!!

No woke garbage needed to win awards. Just puré gameplay as it should be!!!

ARMORED CORE!!! LET’s GOO!!

 

[DenchDeckard]

You do realize this was a victory TLOU 2 had already achieved, right?

Just to humour me. How much did last of us eclipse witcher 3 when only publications were taken into account.

Seems interesting after those gamesrader comments. Elden ring basically got over a 100 more awards from publications vs last of us 2.

 

[Madflavor]

Just to humour me. How much did last of us eclipse witcher 3 when only publications were taken into account.

Seems interesting after those gamesrader comments. Elden ring basically got over a 100 more awards from publications vs last of us 2.

TLOU2 got 208 awards from Media Outlets and about 50% of the awards in 2020. The Witcher 3 got 187 from Media Outlets and about 59% of the awards in 2015.

So far Elden Ring has 278 awards from Media Outlets and is the overall favorite by 73%. Absolutely wild.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I pointed this out in another thread and people couldn't come up with an answer to why these websites for Elden Ring were being counted. The fact is, people used these accusations to discredit the 300+ awards TLOU 2 was given back in 2020.

I think it's clear more than ever that people just didn't like the fact that TLOU 2 was winning all these awards and they needed a reason to discredit it. With Elden Ring winning/dethroning TLOU 2 only means that they now believe those awards were at least legitimate because they cannot say Elden Ring's awards are legit and then say TLOU 2 awards are fake.

Well, let's just count the actual publication goty awards and not the user voted polls?

So we are at 285 for elden ring and like 195 for last of us 2?

Seems like a bit of a massacre.

 

[DenchDeckard]

TLOU2 got 208 awards from Media Outlets and about 50% of the awards in 2020. The Witcher 3 got 187 from Media Outlets and about 59% of the awards in 2015.

So far Elden Ring has 278 awards from Media Outlets and is the overall favorite by 73%. Absolutely wild.

Unreal, and how many sites were counted for each of those years? We know 2020 was some freak anomaly year with over 600. Wonder how many were counted for witcher 3s.

If its less than 2020 then percentage wise it would have eclipsed last of us 2 anyway. That's wild.

 

[Nautilus]

Considered the Best (and first) JRPG by many.

I think its a better metric just to use the TGA awards as a metric, but deserved anyways.

 

[DForce]

Well, let's just count the actual publication goty awards and not the user voted polls?

So we are at 285 for elden ring and like 195 for last of us 2?

Seems like a bit of a massacre.

I don't know why that's even necessary. I know it's difficult to just say that if you think the awards for Elden Ring are legitimate then that automatically means the awards from TLOU 2 are legitimate after you tried to find fault with most (if not all) of them. It's just funny to see people complain for 3 years and then say, "Oh, there's nothing wrong with this system now" because their favorite game is winning. lol

 

[Robb]

Sony now owns the 2 most awarded games. That's insane

Sony doesn’t own Elden Ring, or have I missed something?

 

[Fredrik]

Sony doesn’t own Elden Ring, or have I missed something?

They own a part of From Software. Obvious troll post.

 

[SLB1904]

Sony doesn’t own Elden Ring, or have I missed something?

Yeah they own 10% of it.

They own a part of From Software. Obvious troll post.

How is a troll post stating a fact?

 

[DenchDeckard]

I don't know why that's even necessary. I know it's difficult to just say that if you think the awards for Elden Ring are legitimate then that automatically means the awards from TLOU 2 are legitimate after you tried to find fault with most (if not all) of them. It's just funny to see people complain for 3 years and then say, "Oh, there's nothing wrong with this system now" because their favorite game is winning. lol

I'm confused, weren't people saying they've made the requirements stricter this year? Which means there were issues?

I'm sure its not perfect, but it's obviously more strict than previous years? And elden ring has earned almost 100 more publication awards than last of us 2. Then we see that last of us 2 only narrowly beat out witcher 3. Basically everything points to a freak anomaly year for 2020 yet there's a group on here pointing fingers like no bodies business instead of just accepting it?

I find it strange and it's deffo intrigued me these last few days.

 

[Madflavor]

Unreal, and how many sites were counted for each of those years? We know 2020 was some freak anomaly year with over 600. Wonder how many were counted for witcher 3s.

If its less than 2020 then percentage wise it would have eclipsed last of us 2 anyway. That's wild.

2015 counted 474 total.

 

[RafterXL]

Yeah, i can't get it. Maybe you're prioritizing tangible rewards that must work with your current build as your only incentive for exploration? If that's the case then that .. sucks, it just doesn't work that way for the game to be enjoyable because of its nature. If that is what your perspective is, then i understand completely . I made a few points in my previous post that you quoted that might help you out.

Even if that is his perspective, name another open world game that does exploration better? The only two open worlds that come close are BotW and RDR2 and neither of those games reward exploration in terms of tangible rewards.

When there are no examples that do it better I find it more than a bit disingenuous to claim that it's a problem. At that point it seems like just complaining about open world games and using ER as your excuse.

The last game that rewarded exploration as well as Elden Ring wasn't even a full open world, was a fraction of the size and came out in 2003. That was Gothic 2, and nothing in the near 20 years between those games has exploration in an open world been so rewarding.

 

[GermanZepp]

Another game to go to the Hall of Fame of the most overrated games ever.

 

[Robb]

Yeah they own 10% of it.

That’s of From I’m guessing. They don’t own the IP, which I would guess is co-owned with Namco (?).

A minority stake means nothing. I also own those two IP by that logic since I have a minority stake in Sony.

 

[Topher]

I'm confused, weren't people saying they've made the requirements stricter this year? Which means there were issues?

No, that doesn't mean there were issues. It means some folks on Era established a set of criteria that were never implemented in prior years. Not sure I like Era being the ones setting the standards but it is what it is.

 

[RafterXL]

Yeah they own 10% of it.
How is a troll post stating a fact?

Who knew I owed Sony?

You're fanboy takes aren't facts.

No, that doesn't mean there were issues. It means some folks on Era established a set of criteria that were never implemented in prior years. Not sure I like Era being the ones setting the standards but it is what it is.

Era was always in charge of these things, or at least the single individual who did these before was an Era member. Besides it wouldn't have happened this year if dude didn't yank down the original 2022 results. Someone was going to pick up the slack.

 

[DForce]

I'm confused, weren't people saying they've made the requirements stricter this year? Which means there were issues?

I'm sure its not perfect, but it's obviously more strict than previous years? And elden ring has earned almost 100 more publication awards than last of us 2. Then we see that last of us 2 only narrowly beat out witcher 3. Basically everything points to a freak anomaly year for 2020 yet there's a group on here pointing fingers like no bodies business instead of just accepting it?

I find it strange and it's deffo intrigued me these last few days.

People said they were counting random Twitter, youtube, and Instagram accounts in 2020. They're doing it again in 2022, but people such as yourself and a few others don't seem to care because their game of the year is winning. So, if you had a problem with it in 2020 then you should have a problem with it in 2022. These websites are no longer in question by several people on this forum because they're not looking for a reason to discredit or downplay the 300+ game of the year awards.

 

[Topher]

Era was always in charge of these things, or at least the single individual who did these before was an Era member. Besides it wouldn't have happened this year if dude didn't yank down the original 2022 results. Someone was going to pick up the slack.

I checked that site regularly and I never saw anything there beyond 2021. And then the site went down completely and came back up later.

 

[Aenima]

none of those things helped me with my build. I just felt like i was getting random stuff still rocking my starting longsword after like 12-15 hours. By that time, you are half way to two thirds of the way done in souls games and are fully decked out. they felt far more rewarding.

the other day, i decided to go back, give the game another shot, and killed a dragon. i got some dragon item that i didnt even know what to do with.

This was the reason Elden Ring is not even my top 3 Souls game. The sense of rewarding is terrible because the game tried to give sothing to everyone with so many builds that 90% of the stuff you get are useless to your build. Even helping other player defeat bosses was less rewarding than other souls games as the souls you got was pretty low.

Reason i had a much more enjoyable time when i replayed Demon's Souls remake that is much more focused. Kinda sad cuz after the success of Elden Ring, i dont see them making another focused souls game, unless its Bloodborne 2.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

Even if that is his perspective, name another open world game that does exploration better? The only two open worlds that come close are BotW and RDR2 and neither of those games reward exploration in terms of tangible rewards.

When there are no examples that do it better I find it more than a bit disingenuous to claim that it's a problem. At that point it seems like just complaining about open world games and using ER as your excuse.

The last game that rewarded exploration as well as Elden Ring wasn't even a full open world, was a fraction of the size and came out in 2003. That was Gothic 2, and nothing in the near 20 years between those games has exploration in an open world been so rewarding.

Well that's fair. I much prefer linear games compared to open world. But at the same time, that doesn't mean I hate all open world games. Loved Botw, and hell, I would agree the only strong point of that game is exploration. The combat is a little dated, inventory breaking gets annoying, and the "dungeons" are straight trash. But with that game, I feel rewarded for searching for shrines.

When it comes to elden ring, I feel the total opposite. I could have probably explained a little better, but it's not the lack of "good" items. It's also a low rune output and just getting my character stronger.

Just for perspective, I've beaten all the souls game (outside of DS1) and sekiro. Not like I'm new to from games and in pretty much all of them, I would play the same. Some type of knight/physical build (never even tried a magic type in from games). In previous games, I was able to just go through the game, using a very small amount of weapons (maybe 4 or 5 at most).

So in ER, If I need to search for a hour to find some type of cave or side objective, then complete said objective in another 30 to 45 mins. That's 90 mins to 2 hours for what? Maybe getting my character up a level or two. Not worth the time, imo and not rewarding. Hell, it would be more efficient to just cheese and farm a hoard of enemies near a grace but that's cheap and not fun.

 

[SlimySnake]

This was the reason Elden Ring is not even my top 3 Souls game. The sense of rewarding is terrible because the game tried to give sothing to everyone with so many builds that 90% of the stuff you get are useless to your build. Even helping other player defeat bosses was less rewarding than other souls games as the souls you got was pretty low.

Reason i had a much more enjoyable time when i replayed Demon's Souls remake that is much more focused. Kinda sad cuz after the success of Elden Ring, i dont see them making another focused souls game, unless its Bloodborne 2.

I was convinced that i would find Demon Souls stale, boring and weaker compared to DS1, DS3 and Bloodborne especially since it was the first game in the series before they ironed out all the kinks. However, maybe it was the new PS5 graphics, but i was enthralled by it. Took me some time to get into it but once I did, I just fell in love. Beat it like 13 times in a month and a half. With every weapon, build and class. I just love that despite all the struggles I had with the game's more punishing levels, I was constantly getting items that were helping me get stronger even if i kept losing the souls.

I am told Elden Ring is a 100-120 hour game that only gets good around 60 hours and im like fuck that. Souls games are already too oppressive for 20-30 hour campaigns. I cant do 100 hours of constant death loops. If the level design was as impeccable as Bloodborne and DS3 then maybe, but these levels feel like copy pasta Ubisoft levels and the few castles i tried felt like DS2 levels. No thanks.

I will take quality over quantity.

 

[DenchDeckard]

2015 counted 474 total.

Yeah, Witcher 3 would have deffo beaten LoU2 statistically if there were as many reviews counted. Thanks for the info.

People said they were counting random Twitter, youtube, and Instagram accounts in 2020. They're doing it again in 2022, but people such as yourself and a few others don't seem to care because their game of the year is winning. So, if you had a problem with it in 2020 then you should have a problem with it in 2022. These websites are no longer in question by several people on this forum because they're not looking for a reason to discredit or downplay the 300+ game of the year awards.

I'm literally saying, strip out all the bullshit accounts and only use established publications...and Elden Ring would still woop LoU2s ass. I dont know why you are trying to project that I'm fine with the bullshit when I absolutely am not. I'm saying stripo it all back to established known publication awards. Elden Ring would beat Last Of Us 2. Even Witcher 3 would have beaten it statistically.

Just run the averages.

Last of us 2 won in a freak year where there were like nearly 175 extra awards vs witcher 3s 2015. It had less percentages. 50% vs 59%. 2020 had something funky going on and we can all see it. That's why im saying literally strip it to the most reliable publications.

If we reduced it to a percentage of 100 votes.

Last of us 2 would be in third with 50 votes.
Witcher 3 in second with 59 votes.
Elden ring in first with 75.

Does that simplify it for you?

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

The "criteria" to be eligible to count as an outlet or person(s) giving something "goty" is so low and poorly regulated I'm not entirely sure if this means anything or not.

When Tlou 2 had the record there were many sites questioning the process.

As for the game Elden Ring itself, it's a good game, I just don't see what it does that stands out so differently from the other souls games to get the hype it receives. But to be fair, there wasn't that much GOTY material in 2022 as previous years so eh.

 

[mortal]

I'm very glad to see Elden Ring celebrated, and I think both titles are great for different reasons.

Although I must admit that it's amusing seeing just how different the discussion surrounding awards and accolades is with Elden Ring compared to how contentious things were with TLOU2.
With one title there was a lot of sentiment about awards not really mattering and was indicative of the gaming press /reviewers being pretentious or even shills. While with the other it's simply acknowledging greatness.