The Game Awards: Expansions, DLC, Remakes, Remasters All Eligible for All Categories

[ethomaz]

Can I play it without owning the base game?

Not just own the base game.
The DLC is story locked... you need to reach a point in the story to access it.

To people understand better... it is like 20-30 hours of gameplay before reach the point to play the DLC.

Edit - Maybe I'm being a bit optimistic... some says you need 30 to 50 hours of playtime to reach the point to access the DLC.

 

[KvallyX]

Not just own the base game.
The DLC is story locked... you need to reach a point in the story to access it.

To people understand better... it is like 20-30 hours of gameplay before reach the point to play the DLC.

Edit - Maybe I'm being a bit optimistic... some says you need 30 to 50 hours of playtime to reach the point to access the DLC.

I died 400 times in the first 20-30 minutes of the main game. I didn't realize he was a good guy.

 

[Nym]

Can I play it without owning the base game?

Was this ever a stated criteria?

I understand raising an eyebrow at the notion of DLC as contender, but we're not talking about a weak ass mission pack here, it is very much a full game's worth of content and as such I have no issue with someone claiming this new game content was the best game they played this year.

 

[ethomaz]

Was this ever a stated criteria?

I understand raising an eyebrow at the notion of DLC as contender, but we're not talking about a weak ass mission pack here, it is very much a full game's worth of content and as such I have no issue with someone claiming this new game content was the best game they played this year.

It was... at least until last year.
They changed the rules this year.

Phantom Liberty was not nominated to GOTY because it was a DLC.

 

[Nym]

It was... at least until last year.
They changed the rules this year.

Phantom Liberty was not nominated to GOTY because it was a DLC.

It seems like unnecessary pedantry imo when the content is so meaty. It's new content, and could have been someone's favourite experience of the year. "But it's not standalone!" seems like it's missing the point entirely

 

[ethomaz]

It seems like unnecessary pedantry imo when the content is so meaty. It's new content, and could have been someone's favourite experience of the year. "But it's not standalone!" seems like it's missing the point entirely

It is not the only meaty... not the last... there are expansions even more meaty.
To award a DLC you have to award the base game.... there is no way to one exists without the other.
And the base game already have it time in the past.

Can it have a category "Best downloadable content?"... sure I'm sure Shadow of the Erdtree will win it easily and very deserved.
But we are talking about a work done over another work... it is not a new game... it is the same game where you added more content to it.
If you open that gate then you don't need separably categories for Live Services games because they can have one or more DLCs fighting for the GOTY every year.
Hell why not a GOTY award where all the options are DLC from the same game... how fucked it is.

It basically decrease the importance of a GOTY title that should be something special.
Plus hold the industry to moving ahead to create new and exciting things.
The award like these have a clear goal to inspirate developer to create new games... not to work in DLCs forever for their already stabilized games.

What the point of a GOTY award if you can have DLCs / Expansions of old games winning it?

It is dumb.

Not just that the change in the rule added Remasters, Remakes, etc to the list... so if a Game won the title 2 years ago and got remastered today it can win it again... if it got remastered again in two years it can win again... the same game winning GOTY year by year? That even makes sense?

 

[SLB1904]

I wish I knew who came up with this stupid idea.

 

[arvfab]

It seems like unnecessary pedantry imo when the content is so meaty. It's new content, and could have been someone's favourite experience of the year. "But it's not standalone!" seems like it's missing the point entirely

There is a category called "Best ongoing game", or they could add a category dedicated to "meaty" DLCs.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

...And the award goes to Sony's Miyazaki

I would like to thank the Academy for nominating Sony's FROM Software for our incredible expansion "Sony's Shadow of the Erdtree" for our 2022 GOTY "Sony's Elden Ring". Getting bought by Sony's Totoki was the best day of my life.

You can play all Sony's From Software games (including Sony's Bloodborne) on the Sony Playstation 5 console and the Sony Playstation 5 PRO console.

Now back to Geoff "wrap it up" Keighley

Spoiler

Sounds good to me

 

[Explosive Zombie]

Not just own the base game.
The DLC is story locked... you need to reach a point in the story to access it.

To people understand better... it is like 20-30 hours of gameplay before reach the point to play the DLC.

Edit - Maybe I'm being a bit optimistic... some says you need 30 to 50 hours of playtime to reach the point to access the DLC.

It's locked behind two optional boss battles that are not required for advancing the story. Stop saying it's story locked.

It was... at least until last year.
They changed the rules this year.

Phantom Liberty was not nominated to GOTY because it was a DLC.

They only clarified the rules better this year, they didn't change them. Phantom Liberty was nominated in many categories, no RULE stopped it from being a GOTY nomination, it simply didn't get enough votes from the panel.

It is not the only meaty... not the last... there are expansions even more meaty.
To award a DLC you have to award the base game.... there is no way to one exists without the other.
And the base game already have it time in the past.

Can it have a category "Best downloadable content?"... sure I'm sure Shadow of the Erdtree will win it easily and very deserved.
But we are talking about a work done over another work... it is not a new game... it is the same game where you added more content to it.
If you open that gate then you don't need separably categories for Live Services games because they can have one or more DLCs fighting for the GOTY every year.
Hell why not a GOTY award where all the options are DLC from the same game... how fucked it is.

It basically decrease the importance of a GOTY title that should be something special.
Plus hold the industry to moving ahead to create new and exciting things.
The award like these have a clear goal to inspirate developer to create new games... not to work in DLCs forever for their already stabilized games.

What the point of a GOTY award if you can have DLCs / Expansions of old games winning it?

It is dumb.

Not just that the change in the rule added Remasters, Remakes, etc to the list... so if a Game won the title 2 years ago and got remastered today it can win it again... if it got remastered again in two years it can win again... the same game winning GOTY year by year? That even makes sense?

What expansions do you consider more meaty?

Who says you need to award the base game to award the DLC? What is this arbitrary rule?

We don't have that category.

Same game? Really? Can you substantiate this?

Are there multiple DLCs per year that are good enough to vie for GOTY each year?

Multiple DLC from the same game have been GOTY worthy in the past now?

How does it decrease the importance? If anything your arbitrary rules decrease the importance, no longer will shitty fucking games like Veilguard need to compete with excellent shit like Shadow of the Erdtree, one less obstacle for them getting nominated.

Yes, we all love that the industry is stuck in 7-10 year dev cycles to give us slop, nope. From gave us quality content that is full game sized 2 years later after ER's launch, they deserve to be praised.

Actually they SHOULD inspire people who have made great games to iterate on them more, not all of us want to wait more than a decade for more single player GTA content, we could have used a Ballad of Gay Tony for GTA V, for instance. Your mindset is what's killing the industry.


What's the point of a GOTY award if something that wasn't the best gaming experience of the year can win it?

Here we go, further proof you talk out your ass all the time. The rule wasn't changed, it was CLARIFIED. Resident Evil 4 REMAKE was nominated LAST YEAR. I wonder if you were doing teary-eyed diatribes in 2023 over that nomination?

There is a category called "Best ongoing game", or they could add a category dedicated to "meaty" DLCs.

Best ongoing is for live service games, if anything it was a mistake last year to put Phantom Liberty there as it's a DLC, not a game "ongoing", but they wanted to show respect for the work done to improve the game since launch.

 

[ethomaz]

It's locked behind two optional boss battles that are not required for advancing the story. Stop saying it's story locked.

How many hours do you have to advance in the story to beat these 2 bosses?
It is clearly story locked no matter what weird ideia of story locked you have in your mind lol

The others quotes I won't even reply why you have no ideia of what you are talking about.... it just that lying about the DLC not being story locked is really harmful to readers.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

How many hours do you have to advance in the story to beat these 2 bosses?
It is clearly story locked no matter what weird ideia of story locked you have in your mind lol

The others quotes I won't even reply why you have no ideia of what you are talking about.... it just that lying about the DLC not being story locked is really harmful to readers.

Unlocking the Radahn boss battle involves advancing an OPTIONAL SIDE QUEST. Unlocking the Mohg boss battle involves advancing an OPTIONAL SIDE QUEST. You clearly haven't played the game, it's not "story advancement" that unlocks these. It is an open world game that is relatively open-ended, but the story requires you to acquire two great rune shards (most people will get Godrick the Grafted's and Renalla's before being told they can go to the Altus Plateau to become Elden Lord (after beating Morgott you will find out the Erdtree isn't allowing anyone in so you must burn it down) NONE OF THIS REQUIRES YOU TO KILL MOHG OR RADAHN. You don't need to advance ANY OF THIS to get into the DLC. You can enter the DLC in 3-4 hours if you want to and follow a guide. YOU HAVE CLEARLY NOT PLAYED THE GAME.

 

[ethomaz]

Unlocking the Radahn boss battle involves advancing an OPTIONAL SIDE QUEST. Unlocking the Mohg boss battle involves advancing an OPTIONAL SIDE QUEST. You clearly haven't played the game, it's not "story advancement" that unlocks these. It is an open world game that is relatively open-ended, but the story requires you to acquire two great rune shards (most people will get Godrick the Grafted's and Renalla's before being told they can go to the Altus Plateau to become Elden Lord (after beating Morgott you will find out the Erdtree isn't allowing anyone in so you must burn it down) NONE OF THIS REQUIRES YOU TO KILL MOHG OR RADAHN. You don't need to advance ANY OF THIS to get into the DLC. You can enter the DLC in 3-4 hours if you want to and follow a guide. YOU HAVE CLEARLY NOT PLAYED THE GAME.

Man... WTF?

If you have to advance the story to reach a boss to open a DLC... what that means?
The DLC is story locked.

And it is not a minor story locked... it is fucking 30 hours or so of story.
Stop lying with your 3-4 hours lol

 

[Explosive Zombie]

Man... WTF?

If you have to advance the story to reach a boss to open a DLC... what that means?
The DLC is fucking story locked.

Your argument is basically all content in an open world game is story content then? That's fine, it's a story-locked DLC then, it requires you do what would amount to the length of a tutorial segment in a typical SONY first party game like God of War or Horizon to reach the DLC.

 

[ethomaz]

Your argument is basically all content in an open world game is story content then? That's fine, it's a story-locked DLC then, it requires you do what would amount to the length of a tutorial segment in a typical SONY first party game like God of War or Horizon to reach the DLC.

It needs you do like 30 hours of gameplay... c'mon.
Even if it was 1 hours... 1 hours of story progress is still story locked.

What is not story locked? You load the game and already enters into the DLC.
If you have to play the game and advance into it story then it is story locked.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

It needs you do like 30 hours of gameplay... c'mon.

It doesn't NEED YOU TO. It would be BETTER for you to level up and do that shit, although scadu-tree fragments in the DLC actually do more to your power than levelling does. Just search "fastest way to shadow of the erdtree" and look at Reddit threads, people have found their way into the DLC in literally 1 hour, it's not that hard. You DO NOT understand what you're saying. But yes, MOST newcomers are going to play the game at a leisurely pace and enjoy the base game instead of rushing to find the DLC, this is all based on the theoretical idea that someone MUST reach the DLC immediately... and they can reach it faster than Horizon Zero Dawn let's you enter its open world.

 

[DarkLordOtaku]

Unlocking the Radahn boss battle involves advancing an OPTIONAL SIDE QUEST. Unlocking the Mohg boss battle involves advancing an OPTIONAL SIDE QUEST. You clearly haven't played the game, it's not "story advancement" that unlocks these. It is an open world game that is relatively open-ended, but the story requires you to acquire two great rune shards (most people will get Godrick the Grafted's and Renalla's before being told they can go to the Altus Plateau to become Elden Lord (after beating Morgott you will find out the Erdtree isn't allowing anyone in so you must burn it down) NONE OF THIS REQUIRES YOU TO KILL MOHG OR RADAHN. You don't need to advance ANY OF THIS to get into the DLC. You can enter the DLC in 3-4 hours if you want to and follow a guide. YOU HAVE CLEARLY NOT PLAYED THE GAME.

So, I've beaten the game four times, and had six separate playthroughs. I'm prefacing this to you, just to try to establish some common ground that we like the same game.

The content which gates the DLC is optional, but in fairness to the consideration of what others are expressing, it is story related.

One of the best parts of a FromSoftware game is the depth of narrative you can find in optional side content. While completing this content is not necessary for the credits to roll, I recognize why others would classify this as story content.

I'm personally of the philosophy that TGA can nominate anything for anything, and ultimately it's up to critics and popular opinion to arrive at a consensus of whether the nominations are worthy.

I think this is one of those instances where we can all benefit from acknowledging that others are entitled to their own opinion on the topic, as there's truly very little any of us individually have on the process.

 

[ethomaz]

It doesn't NEED YOU TO. It would be BETTER for you to level up and do that shit, although scadu-tree fragments in the DLC actually do more to your power than levelling does. Just search "fastest way to shadow of the erdtree" and look at Reddit threads, people have found their way into the DLC in literally 1 hour, it's not that hard. You DO NOT understand what you're saying. But yes, MOST newcomers are going to play the game at a leisurely pace and enjoy the base game instead of rushing to find the DLC, this is all based on the theoretical idea that someone MUST reach the DLC immediately... and they can reach it faster than Horizon Zero Dawn let's you enter its open world.

Go tell your wife you want to cheat... not me.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

So, I've beaten the game four times, and had six separate playthroughs. I'm prefacing this to you, just to try to establish some common ground that we like the same game.

The content which gates the DLC is optional, but in fairness to the consideration of what others are expressing, it is story related.

One of the best parts of a FromSoftware game is the depth of narrative you can find in optional side content. While completing this content is not necessary for the credits to roll, I recognize why others would classify this as story content.

I'm personally of the philosophy that TGA can nominate anything for anything, and ultimately it's up to critics and popular opinion to arrive at a consensus of whether the nominations are worthy.

I think this is one of those instances where we can all benefit from acknowledging that others are entitled to their own opinion on the topic, as there's truly very little any of us individually have on the process.

He's arguing it's story-gated because he's a piss baby who is mad it got nominated. He hasn't played it and has no appreciation for From's games or the amazing lore they create in their games. He just wants to set up this idea it's really difficult for people to even get to play this DLC.

They clearly can nominate anything, because they did lol. Maybe Geoff looks at all the online whining and makes a DLC category next year? Who knows? But right now there isn't one so when the panelists were asked to vote their favorite games to create the nominees list they included Shadow of the Erdtree. I keep saying my whole argument is it's significant enough to be someone's favorite gaming experience of 2024, not that it doesn't technically qualify as DLC. Ethomaz is really dense, tho.

 

[ethomaz]

So, I've beaten the game four times, and had six separate playthroughs. I'm prefacing this to you, just to try to establish some common ground that we like the same game.

The content which gates the DLC is optional, but in fairness to the consideration of what others are expressing, it is story related.

One of the best parts of a FromSoftware game is the depth of narrative you can find in optional side content. While completing this content is not necessary for the credits to roll, I recognize why others would classify this as story content.

I'm personally of the philosophy that TGA can nominate anything for anything, and ultimately it's up to critics and popular opinion to arrive at a consensus of whether the nominations are worthy.

I think this is one of those instances where we can all benefit from acknowledging that others are entitled to their own opinion on the topic, as there's truly very little any of us individually have on the process.

He won't understand at all.

How you access the DLC defines if it is story locked/related.

Non-story locked: You don't need to play the base game, you can access the DLC via menu without touch the base, etc... there are several options but you don't need to play the base game.

Story locked: You have to process in the game story to reach the point that you can access the DLC.... there is no way to access it without well do some story in the base game.

Elden Ring DLC is locked by several hours (~30 hours) of progress in the game to access it.
Unless you use some cheat method that he is trying to use as argument to jump these 30 hours in like 4 hours lol

I mean he even believes that 4 hours of progress is not story locked lol
It even calls 4 hours of gameplay as "tutorial"

And he wants to have a point.

BTW the DLC is fully story related to the base game... it tells events that happened during what you did in the base game... in both the base game and the DLC has story references that complement each other... the Miquella's story doesn't start in the DLC but in the base game.