Game of the year Nominees

this week on locked loot i'm talking about the nominees including the fact that there is a DLC and Remake on the list. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Well, we're back another great week. We are ready to go.
We have been out of it for a little while.
I don't know why the podcast hasn't been posting as much,
but we really need to get back into it. Of course,
you know some of you know, most of you may not.
This is Luck Loop Podcast. I'm your host, Isaiah, your

(00:26):
game master, streamer, video game enthusiast. Of course, we're here
this week to talk about the Game Awards. Now, the
Game Awards haven't happened yet, and we're doing this on
purpose because we want to talk about the nominees, because
there has been some stuff with these nominees that we

(00:46):
really need to go over. Now. The contenders. There are contenders,
the ones that don't belong there, and those that do
belong there. Of course, that is what we're here to
talk about again. I'm your host, Isaiah, and welcome to
locks Loot. It has been a hot minute and we
are happy to get back into it. Of course. It

(01:08):
we're live on Twitch usually on Saturdays, which is where
we will be from now on. It will be, of course,
be posted everywhere else. But if you're watching the archive,
go ahead and just let me know in the comments
what you think should win Game of the Year this
year because there is a huge discussion around what should win,

(01:30):
what shouldn't win, or tell me about the ones you
think got snubbed. Now let's talk about the Game Awards.
The thing about the Game warts is there is a
partial voting system, but it also is part of a
council system, which means there are games on here that
we don't believe being along on here. And what makes

(01:54):
what makes something Game of the Year material is of
course the coleman of everything that it is, from gameplay, mechanics, storytelling,
and the emotional impact of an amazing story. Honest think
God of War, Ragnarov, I think Red Dead Redemption. I
don't think I think God of War Ragnarok took it

(02:15):
that year over Red Dead Redemption. Think elden Ring. The innovation,
the things you can do with different mechanics, the amazing
visuals you can get from like the realism of Call
of Duty to the animated fun of some of the
indie games that we have, and the stylized decisions that
we can get. Of course, what it all comes down to,

(02:37):
and the biggest thing that I think Game of the
Year needs to come down to is reception. How were
these games received? Did the community love it? Did the
developers love it? Did the critics love it? Did the
haters still go? It's a good game, I'll give you that.

(02:57):
Now we're gonna be talking about a couple of its
of the background games, you know, the ones that won before,
not background, sorry, the previous game of the years. It
has been a while since I've been on the podcast.
I'm a native fast talker, and I commonly, uh tend
to just go from thing to thing, the thing the thing,
and then sometimes I misspeak and I try to correct myself,

(03:20):
but that doesn't always happen. Yell at me in the comments,
or yell at me and chat, whichever you want to do. Now,
now when I'm talking about previous winners. When I am
talking about previous winners, if you notice I kind of
look to the side every once in a while, it's
because I have three streams. First, one is showing what

(03:42):
you guys show side, I've got some other stuff going. Eldinaring.
Now we're not talking Elden Ring Shadow of the Urd Tree,
which is on Game of the Year this year, and
I have thoughts about it. We will get to it later.
It one two at one Game of the Year in

(04:03):
twenty twenty two, it deserved Game of the Year twenty
twenty two. Elden Ring had great graphics, excellent gameplay, iterated
upon the from soft Formula, great writing. Of course, when
we look at twenty twenty three, we have to give

(04:25):
it to the the e turnal the potential game of
the decade, Baldersgate three, from amazing acting to amazing storytelling,
to the graphics, to bringing D and D to the
game sphere again and making it a more mainstream thing.

(04:46):
You know, you don't We can all now don't need
to find a party. We can go play some Baldersgate
and of course the mod support after it. We will
get into Baldersgate because it is here. Again, there are
an number of winners. It takes two one Game of
Awards in twenty twenty one, so there isn't this one

(05:12):
type of game that wins Game of the Year. It
takes two and Baldersgate three. Shadow and elden Ring, not
Shadow of the ar Tree, are three very different games
and they all have what's in common. Their gameplay mechanics
work really well into each other. The gameplay is fluid,

(05:34):
it can be difficult, it can be it can be
turn based, it can be puzzles. They're storytelling, whether it
be the cryptic storytelling of Frumsoft to the beautiful, emotional
and diversified storytelling of Balder's Gate three, not to mention

(05:57):
the amazing emotional storyteller of God of War Ragnarok. It
they all have that in common. You want to hit
these beats. Great gameplay, great storytelling, great innovation, innovative or iterative.
I'm not saying that the game has to be revolutionary.

(06:19):
Balder's Gate is just D and D elden Ring dark souls.
It's a soul's like, so it has a lot of
dark soul mechanics into it. But it iterated. It doesn't
need to be innovative, but it should be iterative. Visual
and audio design. Does that music pop? When you hear

(06:40):
the music of Balder's Gate? Do you go, oh, yes,
I still use it in my D and D campaigns.
When you hear the boss music of elden Ring, are
you intimidated by the foe in front of you? And
when those emotional moments come in that swelling music behind you?
You cry with a trayis and with Krados. Visual and

(07:07):
audio design play into those. There's a lot of blocking,
there's a lot of directing and cut scenes, and of
course did the players enjoy it? They share almost all
of these things. Get past Game of the Year share
all of these things. All of the parts play into
each other. Of course, you can take parts how you

(07:27):
can go. Maybe it doesn't have the best music, but
its visuals are on point. Maybe the storytelling ain't there,
but who the game is fun to play. Now. This
year's different. This year is really weird for Game of
the Year, so I have it up here. We have,

(07:49):
of course, our Game of the Year nominations are Astrobot,
Bla Trow, Blackmouth, Wukong, Elden Rings, Shadow of the urg Tree,
Final Fantasy seven, Rebirth, and Metaphor Refantaso. Now, the fact
that Balatro's on here, which is essentially a poker indie game,

(08:12):
a type of roguelike poker India game, that's impressive that
it's Game of the Year. Now, I don't know if
that speaks to the lack of Game of the Year
material or that speaks to just how good this game is.
Because I haven't played it. It's a mobile game. I
just haven't had time between all my other stuff. I'll
get to it sometime and maybe it'll change my mind.

(08:35):
I do think, like, hey, it must be good enough
to belong here if it's got those things. Great gameplay,
we know, poker storytelling. I don't know how you tell
a story in poker, but if it does, that's fine. Innovation.
It's poker, and I think it has some innovation in
the I kept saying innovation. I also mean iteration. If

(08:57):
it's ITERATD on the iterated, iterated, iterated, we're going iterated
on the poker game play style. Then then yeah, visual
and audio design, it can have some good music. The visuals, well,
it's poker. You're not gonna get too many visuals. And
I guess the players loved it. That's what matters the most.

(09:18):
I think players love the game. I think players really
need to love the game. Astrobot on that list, it
is a great VR game. I'm so glad to see
a VR game on this list. Black Myth Wukong. We
had some controversy around it, but it's a solid game.
It's got good graphics, good storytelling, it's got these things.

(09:39):
It's iterative on this on the Soul's Like formula. You've
got elden Ring, Shadow of the Ur Tree. This one's hard.
I said, we'd talk about Shadow of the Ur Tree,
and I'll talk about it when I talk about each
one individually later on kind when I discussed these things.

(10:01):
But what they did differently this year is that Shadow
of the Ur Tree is a DLC. The fact that
a DLC is up for the Game of the Year
is so peculiar because this is not a new game.
Sure it may have all these storytelling elements added on
to it, but it's not elden Ring too. It might
be the size of a game, but by that logic,

(10:25):
there are other games that should also have been on
the list. I don't know how I feel about elden
Ring being on this list. Elden Ring's great, people love it.
I'm not a souls like person. I can play Souls likes,
but it's good that people loved Shadow of the Tree.

(10:46):
People were hyped for Shadow of the Ur Tree and
when it came out everything. I just don't know if
it belongs on a Game of the Year because elden
Ring came out in twenty twenty two, so technically this
is a twenty twenty two game fighting for Game of
the Year twenty twenty four, which feels weird. Of course,
then you have Final Fantasy seven rebirth. This is another

(11:09):
one where I'm like, I don't know if it belongs here,
because the criteria must have shifted in the last few years.
Because it's not a sequel, it's a remake. We have
a DLC and a remake on the list here, and
that feels very peculiar and very difficult to come across
because I'm like, hard to tell, So I'll give it

(11:37):
to them. They changed up the formula. It's innovative upon
the Final Fantasy formula. It is not the same as
Final Fantasy seven. I believe they added active time combat
systems like they did in Final Fantasy sixteen, and people
loved it. It's got the Final Fantasy visual and audio design.

(12:00):
The game play mechanics are Final Fantasy storytelling. Final Fantasy
seven already had an amazing story to it. And then
of course we've got Metaphor Refantaso, which is another Sony game.
I've seen some interesting things about it. I haven't played
it just because I haven't had time. Once again, gameplay
mechanic wise, it plans churn based strategy with active time action,

(12:20):
and I'm like, Okay, that's interesting. That can be interesting.
It seems to have a good story. Now let's talk
about the contenders. Who what do I think win biggest thing?
What we'll talk about what I think will win later.
We've been going through each of these and the major

(12:41):
these are all well, four of these are major Triple
A games, and I'm going, okay, major Triple A games
versus Astrobot, which I believe is a VR title, which
means it's probably not Triple A, but it is also
made by Sony Balatario, is an indie game. These are
just so different, so different types of games to go

(13:02):
up against each other that I'm like, this is interesting,
Like how do people react to this, because I don't
know if elden Ring wins this, just because people believe
it sets a bad precedent. And what I mean by
that is this sets the precedent that DLC can win
Game of the Year, literally win Game of the year,

(13:25):
not this. DLC introduced new music, so it's it wins
the music category, not it best DLC, which honestly, I
think I think they need to take They needed to
strip and people can get mad about this. I'm all right,
defend the decisions for me because I want to see
the other side of this. Please in the comments, defend

(13:46):
the decisions of putting elden Ring and Final Fantasy Rebirth
in here, because I don't think remakes and I don't
think DLCs belong in Game of the Year. No matter
how awesome of a game, you sweep all of the
Game of the Year awards, and I still don't think
a remake should win Game of the Year. Elden Ring,

(14:09):
Shadow of Theyear, Tree fantastic DLC. I think it probably
has great action action elements, probably great music. Like I said,
I haven't heard it, heard the music from it. I
know Final Fantasies music. I think they should be competing
in best music, maybe best performances, but best DLC and

(14:30):
best remake. You need to have those separate categories so
that we're not stuck with this where we're going, Okay,
there's a DLC. Really a game of the year. Can
a game win win Game of the Year every year?
Because what's to stop something from making a fantastic DLC
for a game every single year? And now that DLC

(14:52):
is nominated Game of the Year every year, and it
just takes that title. Let's to stop elden Ring from
making another DLC next year, or the year after or
the year after. Let's to stop Square Enix from doing
Final Fantasy eight Rebirth, Final Fantasy nine Rebirth, Final Fantasy ten,
Rebirth ten two Rebirth, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, six, five, four.

(15:19):
What's to stop them from just flooding Game of the
Year with remakes other than like development, I don't believe.
I don't believe that it is good for the industry
to have this happen. Honestly, I do not believe it's

(15:42):
the good of the industry for this. It's wrong. I
firmly believe this is wrong to have DLCs and remakes.
In here, I complained a little bit about the Silent
Hill rebirth, find the Silent Hill remake, and the Resident
Evil remake, But it's getting out of hand now that
we're looking at DLCs. It's those two games took places

(16:03):
of games that actually deserved it. What games actually deserved it,
It's hard to say, because this year has had some
heavy hitters and some underperformers. Now we got to talk
about Balatario for being an amazing indie game. We got

(16:26):
to nominate Astrobot, and of course another VR title, Arkham,
the Batman VR title, which I believe is in best VR.
I think Astrobot loses to it. But the fact that
VR titles are coming out of their own category and
we're seeing VR titles stepping up into actual games is

(16:49):
a great sign for the industry. It means we're taking
a step forward. The console wars may become the VR wars.
As VR games starts to take get more as VR
tech starts to get more powerful, as VR games start
to get more popular, I think we'll see more and
more of that takeover. And I'm like, I want to
see that. I want to see the next iteration of gaming,
which I honestly believe is VR or AR step into

(17:14):
that and really take up those mantle, and of course
seeing games like the Arkham series take that up. And
I did not have high hopes for the Arkham game.
I had no high hopes for the Arkham game at all.
I honestly thought it would be terrible. But it's great.
I've seen the videos of it, I've seen the gameplay.
It looked good and I'm like, yes, this is what

(17:35):
you can do if you actually put some effort into it.
Because VR, I hate to say it, VR is kind
of like a place where low budget devs can go
and throw a bunch of trash games without people noticing,
so being able to go from that into we're getting Astrobot,

(17:56):
We're getting Batman, Arkham Arkham Shadows. I think what it's
called the fact that those are winning. I'm like, yes, yes,
we're It means that things are stepping out predictions. My
top three picks blackmth Wukong, Metaphor, Refantaso. And I hate

(18:18):
to say it because I in my heart, I know
it's wrong. In my soul, I know it's wrong. My
top picks Metaphor, Black myth Wukong, Final Fantasy seven fight me.
Now here's why, Here's why Metaphor Reefantasio is a great game.

(18:47):
It's standing on its own two legs. It is its
own IP. It's a new IP, it's nothing being built
upon older iyeps, which means we finally got something new,
something good that's stepping into the ring. Final Fantasy seven Man.
This could have been a cash grab remake and it wasn't.

(19:09):
This could have been such a cash grab remake. I
say that because they could have just reskinned it and
been like, it's Final Fantasy seven Rebirth. We updated graphics,
we updated animations. Don't you think it looks cool? Kids? No,

(19:30):
they went through and remade the game complete, completely, redid
the music, redid the character designs, redid everything. Combat is
so much different in Final Fantasy seven Rebirth than in
Final Fantasy seven. You know, so, I'm going like they
did an actual job. If this was not a Final

(19:53):
Fantasy game, specifically Final Fantasy seven, if they did Final
Fantasy eighteen as good as Final Fantasy seven, and I'd
be like, yes, definitely in my heart. I know it's wrong,
but Final Fantasy vin is so well done. Black myth
Wukong huge love for the game. The game looks great,

(20:13):
the mechanics are great, and finally we're bringing the Eastern
legend Sun Wukong into the modern mainstream audience. I say
mainstream because gaming has overtaken, overtaken Hollywood and movies for
market share, so definitely the mainstream stuff. Blackmuth Wukong brings

(20:37):
Sun Wukong into this People are being introduced to this
ancient mythological character that they may not have run into
they're inspiring people to read. Journey to the West one
of the literary powerhouses, I would say, and so it
does that. It still has amazing gameplay, very abilities. The

(21:01):
music's there. Again, it fits the criteria I think. I think,
other than the controversy that went along with it about
Black Myth Wukong, I think it deserves the win here.
My top vote is Black Myth Wukong. I think blackmith
Wukong deserves the vote here. The reason why I didn't
say Balatario, even though I'm like, it's great that this

(21:23):
indie game stepped up at the heart of the game.
It's poker, it's iterative. Black Myth Wukong is a new
ip based on definitely based on mythology, and it's fun.
It's a fun game to play. It's a difficult game
to play. It's great. And to see this game step

(21:43):
up in this way, these game of the year guys,
I'm like these this is a true game of the
year experience. I'm so glad that we're finally getting it.
We're not like one thing dominates this year. We're going, huh,
we actually had bunch of good games. Who wins this?
We haven't had this happen since Oh, Red Dead, Redemption

(22:06):
two against Spider Man against God of War. Yeah, we
haven't had this in a while. Every year has kind
of been, oh, no, this is gonna win. You know,
when Last of Us two came out there, I think
there was a game that got got snubbed. I can't remember.
It was twenty twenty. I can't remember what game got
snubbed for Last of Us Part two. Twenty twenty one,

(22:28):
we were like, oh, yeah, that's gonna win. Twenty twenty two,
were like, uh elden Ring. Twenty twenty three, We're like,
it doesn't matter what you're running against. Balder's Gate wins
this year. We're going it's actually close. It's actually close. Now.
I also want to talk about some games that do

(22:49):
not belong here, no matter what people tell you, I'm
just gonna run through them real quick, each of the areas,
because I can tell you which games don't along here really.
But of course, best game direction is our big ones,
because game direction matters a lot. Best narrative, of course,
metaphor final fantasy, those things definitely are our only contenders.

(23:12):
Best art direction, there's some artistically relevant I honestly think
Neva could win this because the art direction wise, it's
one of the most unique best score in music. It's
gonna go to Final Fantasy. I hate to tell you
it's a Final Fantasy seven. You can't do. You can't

(23:33):
really beat that metaphor. It's got some great music, but
Final Fantasy seven is iconic. Best audio design again, Final
Fantasy seven the audio design for abilities. You might get
Call of Duty in there. Best performance. This one's harder

(23:54):
because you know you might get the Final Fantasy seven again.
But you could also see any The best performance can
go to anyone really innovative accessibility. This is the only
way I could see Vailguard ever getting a Game of
the Year because it does not deserve to be here.
It does not bail. I'm waiting into a mess here,

(24:17):
and I know I'm waiting into a mess here. I'm
about to wait into a mess, and I'm not gonna
take it from the perspective you think I'm gonna take
it from Dragon Age. Vail Guard does not belong on here. Sure,
I think it could be innovative inaccessibility. It might have
good accessibility features. I don't know. I just know that

(24:38):
they butchered their own story in such a terrible way
that goes against so much established lord that it's like
this is barely a dragon Age game. They completely sidelined
the main villain that was supposed to be this game's villain.
They completely sidelined the main villain. They completely alter the

(25:00):
story from what it was supposed to be. Remember, this
was supposed to be a follow up to Inquisition. This
was supposed to not be some some different character. This
was supposed to be the Inquisitor. So yeah, they fumbled
it at dragon Age, and not for the reasons you
think you think I'd talk about, because I don't talk

(25:22):
about the politics of the situation here. It's waded into
that mess too, and it's got hurt for that. But
it just has very poor storytelling to it. The game
feels muddled, messy the time. The game does not work
on a storytelling level. It betrays a lot of its
own lore, and that's because the people on it did

(25:42):
not respect the source material enough to stick with it.
They did not respect dragon Age, dragon Age two, or
dragon Age origins enough to respect the game and to
respect established lore. Outlaws is kind of the same way.
Outlaws wasn't a good game, but innovation of accessibility is
the participation Trophy. I would say, you made a game

(26:03):
this year, congrats games for impact. I don't care about this.
I don't know enough about it. Best ongoing gotta give
it to hell Divers two or Final Fantasy fourteen could
be either best community support, Balderskate by far mod support
updates one through seven. You gotta give it to Balderskate.

(26:25):
Best community support. I know hell Divers has been great
on the community sorts community support since they started well,
pulling their head out their ass after Sony's mess up.
I think the fumbles of hell Divers two cause it
to lose to balders Gate three because Balderskate three has
updates like three through seven man, and then they announced

(26:49):
eight just before Game of the Year where they're like, yeah,
we're adding more subclasses and mod support. So yeah, I
think Baldersgate takes it. Which is hilarious that Baldersgate is
going to win game A Game of the Year Year
award two years and not because DLC Best Independent Game. Look,

(27:09):
Balatario is on Game of the Year. It's gonna win
Best Independent Game, Best debut in the game. It's gonna
go to Balatario again. Best Mobile Game. I hate to
say it, it's gonna go to Balatario again again. It
is nominated for Game of the Year for a reason,
and that's gonna skew the vote. Best ar VR, It's

(27:30):
gonna go to Arkham Shadow. Best Action Game. This one's hard.
This one's hard. I Best Action Game because it could
go to Blackmith Wikong. I think Blackmith Wukong deserves it.
Call of Duty had great multiplayer, great zombies. Hell Divers
two is Hell Divers two, and then we have Space
Marine two. The Best Action Game is one of the

(27:52):
hardest contenders we have seen in a long time. Out
of all of these, out of all of the out
of all of the category, best Action Game is probably
the most contentious. But I think it goes to Black
Myth will come. Best Action Adventure. Look Friends, Friends. Astrobot's

(28:16):
Great Prince of Persian is a hidden gem because you'd
be soft tried to bury it. Silent Hill too is iconic.
They did good with the remake. But Zelda's on the list.
I am sorry. Legend of Zelda is on the list.
In the heart of hearts, I know Zelda wins this

(28:39):
Prince of Persia deserves this, but Zelda wins this best RPG.
Hate to say it, it's gonna go to Elden Ring
or Final Fantasy seven, but it could be a metaphor. Again,
those are the games up for Game of the Year.
There are some contentious games Best Fighting game. No one

(29:01):
has been talking about any of these fighting games. Marvel
versus Capcom. I didn't even know that came out, Grand
Blue fantasyver What, don't even know what that is? Multi
versus w B tried to release a Smash Bros. Clone
Tech and eight it's tecn But nobody has been talking
about any fighting game except for dragon Ball Sparking zero.

(29:24):
So dragon Ball wins this best family game. I hate
to say it. Nintendo wins this regardless, so it doesn't
matter which one you pick. Nintendo wins it. I don't
think Astro Boy gets it because it's not the best
family game. I think either Mario Party or Echoes of
Wisdom wins this. Best sim strategy. I think manor Lord

(29:46):
wins this for one good reason. The contended. The contenders
here are Manner Lords and Frostpunk Zero. I don't I
think Frostpunk is too too depressing of a game really,
so I think mannor Lords takes it. Best Sports and Racing.

(30:08):
I don't care. They're all the same game that came
out last year. Best Multiplayer. This is another contentious one.
Black Ops six had good great multiplayer, but poor matchmaking,
so I don't think it makes this one Hell Divers
two iconic. So I think it comes down to Hell
Divers two versus Space Marine. This one comes down to
Hell Divers two against Space Marine, and we all know it.

(30:30):
There's no way Mario Party Jamboree takes it because Mario
Party is Mario Party, and it doesn't matter who you play,
somebody ends up mad. Best adaptation. It's gonna go to
Fallout or Arcane. Nobody watched Knuckles. I didn't know like
a Dragon came out. Tomb Raider, I didn't even know
that was a thing. It's gonna go to Arcane or Fallout.

(30:52):
Most anticipated game goes to GTA six. It's always GTA six.
They're just farming. Game of the Year. I don't really
care about Create, uh, Creator of the Year. Best esports games,
it's gonna be Counter Striker, Leave of Legends, and of
course I'm not really athletes Team. Yeah, don't forget to vote. Honestly,

(31:17):
as far as Game of the Year goes, it's a
really fun thing. We finally got something where no one
thing is gonna completely sweep Game of the Year. Though
one thing is gonna sweep Game of the Year, which
is interesting. I'm really happy on that that it's not

(31:42):
gonna sweep Game of the Year. Nothing's gonna sweep it.
It's gonna be contentious, which is what we want. So
my thoughts overall, I think Blackmith Wukonger Final Fantasy is
going to win it. Shadow of the Ur Tree may
win it. I don't think Astrobot stands a chance. Neither
does Valatario, just because they're more niche games. Of course,

(32:04):
I could be wrong. Come back to this video after
it releases, after Game of the Year comes out. I
could be very wrong, of course I could. And that's
everything that I've got for you guys today as far
as gaming news goes, please join us in like twenty

(32:25):
minutes for game Master's Arsenal. We're gonna be talking about
Oral the uh Arl, the I almost called her the
witch Arl, the frost Maiden. Of course, check us out
everywhere else. If you're on the archive, hit subscribe. If
you're on YouTube, you've made it this far, and if

(32:46):
you want more, check it out. I'm your host, Isaiah.
I'm logging out.