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Horizon Zero Dawn wins Writers Guild Award for best video game writing
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Having a mobile futurama game, and a madden game in the same nomination bracket kind of sullies winning the award in my book. Going up against a sports game that has a pretty basic story is extra hilarious!
Oh my bad. I completely misread! Not sure how I misread something so badly. Yikes, I need to be more careful. lol
You know what, I think it is very deserved. I see a lot of complaints that the actual story itself is bad but the history of the world is good but the history of the world is part of the story, it's a big part of the story. I'd argue really more the "main story" is there as a mechanic to get you to learn the history of the world and the world's history is the true story. And I also like how you have to uncover bits to learn that history of the world. Really it's the same way with New Vegas... the whole original plotline is kinda drull and boring (you just want revenge for getting shot in the head). But your character's story isn't the real story, the real story is the world itself and your character's story is just an excuse to learn the world's story. All the factions fighting for power and what is going on. And yes, you have to explore to find that out too. It's one of the parallels I found about the story writing that showed it was influenced by the same lead writer for New Vegas (and why I love his writing).
Really, at worst, the history of the world is part of the story but it is definitely part of the main story. And I really loved it.
So, I think it's deserved.
That being said, with the competition it had it is not that great of an honor to win over the other contenders being considered.
Really, at worst, the history of the world is part of the story but it is definitely part of the main story. And I really loved it.
So, I think it's deserved.
That being said, with the competition it had it is not that great of an honor to win over the other contenders being considered.
Man, I loved Horizon zero dawn, but I could never give it an award for writing.
The base lore was fantastic. The origins of the bots, the world that built up around them post post apocalypse. All that was great. The actual story they told though within that world though...The warring tribes and bandit stories were uninteresting, and everythign that progressed through was completely uninteresting unless it was referencing the past. The game was also nearly completely lacking in good characters, with Erend being the lone exception. Aloy herself being the biggest disappointment to me, with the directing somehow managing to make Ashly Burch of all people boring and the character being overall the most boring least interesting pile this side of assassin's creed's Conner.
I loved the game, I just hope the inevitable sequel does a better job with the modern story, as they wont have the amazing lore to fall back on the next time.
The base lore was fantastic. The origins of the bots, the world that built up around them post post apocalypse. All that was great. The actual story they told though within that world though...The warring tribes and bandit stories were uninteresting, and everythign that progressed through was completely uninteresting unless it was referencing the past. The game was also nearly completely lacking in good characters, with Erend being the lone exception. Aloy herself being the biggest disappointment to me, with the directing somehow managing to make Ashly Burch of all people boring and the character being overall the most boring least interesting pile this side of assassin's creed's Conner.
I loved the game, I just hope the inevitable sequel does a better job with the modern story, as they wont have the amazing lore to fall back on the next time.
I mean, the narrative director was the head writer of Fallout New Vegas, so yeah. You want your game to win a writing award, that's...a pretty decent way to do it.
Doesn't hurt that the only other nominees were Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow, Madden NFL 2018 [!], and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.
Doesn't hurt that the only other nominees were Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow, Madden NFL 2018 [!], and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.
I think Horizon's got a really cool story, and it goes to some places that I wasn't expecting. I just didn't love how the bulk of the game's story comes from a few really big info dumps. I don't think the writing itself was especially strong, more that the game showcases a lot of really interesting concepts. Considering the quality of writing in most video games, though, Horizon's is definitely well above the average.
For the story? I was expecting art design or .....huh....music but the story is not really that original at least on the Sci Fi department
That's the thing though, it really hasn't been. Nier and Divinity 2?
Well its very much deserved. The game has a very compelling and engaging story from top to bottom, including the non-essential content like audio logs, journals, side stories, etc.
It helps that the voice acting was top tier as well. The game has some of the best writing in the medium, not sure that anything else last year came close.
Congratulations to the team and I hope there's much more to come!
It helps that the voice acting was top tier as well. The game has some of the best writing in the medium, not sure that anything else last year came close.
Congratulations to the team and I hope there's much more to come!
The back story was fantastic but dumping it around audio logs you have to hunt down then stand there listening to is lazy and half-arsed.
Nice. My 2017 goty. Horizon should win over those games that are mentioned in the title. Wouldn't have had a problem if Nier or Divinity 2 would have won but Madden? What is the world coming to??? SMH.
These awards are garbage. Madden yet no Nier A or Persona, they were likely not even considered because they were Japanese.
Not saying Horizon doesnt deserve being acknowledged for its pretty decent story for a huge AAA game, but still
Not saying Horizon doesnt deserve being acknowledged for its pretty decent story for a huge AAA game, but still
Horizon's writing was solid in that it doesn't hold back and actually provides answers to the mysteries it sets up. It was really refreshing in that regard, especially when so many games would save that stuff for sequels.
It has a ton of other problems in regards to that though. Exposition dumps through audio logs and old vaults was infuriating. The best way to make me not care about any of your lore is to throw a bunch of long, text logs in front of me when I'm powering my way through to learn about the core mystery of the story. Side characters and actual politics among the tribes were completely forgettable. It felt like Aloy had no connection with anyone (aside from Rost) and therefore had few ways to be challenged or stretched in different directions.
It deserves credit for making robot dinosaurs comprehensible in a cool and interesting way, but yeah it was generally just lacking in a lot of small ways that hurt the overall storytelling and world building experience.
It has a ton of other problems in regards to that though. Exposition dumps through audio logs and old vaults was infuriating. The best way to make me not care about any of your lore is to throw a bunch of long, text logs in front of me when I'm powering my way through to learn about the core mystery of the story. Side characters and actual politics among the tribes were completely forgettable. It felt like Aloy had no connection with anyone (aside from Rost) and therefore had few ways to be challenged or stretched in different directions.
It deserves credit for making robot dinosaurs comprehensible in a cool and interesting way, but yeah it was generally just lacking in a lot of small ways that hurt the overall storytelling and world building experience.
Not having Nier is a big omission. You could make an argument that Persona 5's writing is way too hammy and straightforward. It deals with contemporary issues in a superficial way. And not to mention a few of the troubling caricatures that have been discussed here in the past. Overall I enjoyed the story but aside from the first villain in the game I found the rest of them pretty disappointing.
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Well deserved, I enjoyed the story a lot more than I thought I would. Digging out more background story kept me engaged almost as much as the fantastic gameplay. As far as sci-fi stories in games go, this one was pretty damn good and chilling at times.
Is it a union thing as to why certain things aren't nominated?
Either way the story and writing in Horizon was great. Really well deserved. Such a concise and focused story. I loved it.
Either way the story and writing in Horizon was great. Really well deserved. Such a concise and focused story. I loved it.
A very odd mix of nominees, to be sure.
And of all the things that Horizon Zero Dawn could win an award for, "writing" is not something it does very well. Give it a tech award. Give it a design award. But giving Horizon a writing award can only come from a cynical belief that games can't do any better. HZD is filled with awkward, derivative, overlong writing that bogs down a game that is good in almost every way except for in its writing.
And of all the things that Horizon Zero Dawn could win an award for, "writing" is not something it does very well. Give it a tech award. Give it a design award. But giving Horizon a writing award can only come from a cynical belief that games can't do any better. HZD is filled with awkward, derivative, overlong writing that bogs down a game that is good in almost every way except for in its writing.
I thought it was very good. The way it sort of built up to exactly what happened and the little stories associated with it were all actually very good.
They build mystery into the game through the use of those little stories...None ever quite spilled the beans, but you had this feeling that something ominus happened. It really was great and much less "on the nose" than some of the more herald "great games."
Horizon deserved much more credit that it received.
They build mystery into the game through the use of those little stories...None ever quite spilled the beans, but you had this feeling that something ominus happened. It really was great and much less "on the nose" than some of the more herald "great games."
Horizon deserved much more credit that it received.
this. that they've never implemented a way of tracking them all down in game (or post game) is unfortunate, considering how interesting they are, & how much info you get from them...
I feel like some of the characterization was off, but overall the story Horizon tried to tell was told better than I would have expected it to be from a studio with no experience making open world games.
Wouldn't have given it to Horizon myself, D:OS2 and NieR would have been my picks.
Wouldn't have given it to Horizon myself, D:OS2 and NieR would have been my picks.
Same :) Can't wait for the sequel and see how it continues. I guess it's gonna be a 2020 game for PS5. Let's wait and see.
Absolutely deserved
I actually liked the story in Lost Legacy better than in 4.
No, it made perfect sense in context, and made it optional for those with little attention span who tend to go "lorelol".
They had to balance the absolutely essential (delivered through dialogue between Aloy, Sylens and Gaia) and the expository/ explanation which was kept to optional logs.
They achieved imo a near perfect balance, though choosing realism (notes and logs being only in bases and Cauldrons) over gameplay (pepered all over in gameified locations/ access that would make less sense but be more evenly distributed) does provoke different reactions from players.
That they managed to make lore stories (like what happened with Ted Faro, but also the back story behind each indivisual AI program, or the journey of Elizabeth) so interesting yet completely optional is amazing imo.
All to the credit of the writters, is that the game follows two stories separated by thousands of years that are both fascinating: Aloy's and Elizabeth's.
My favorite part of the game was entering that research facility and listening to the audio of Holo logs. That was a genuinely good sci-fi story
I loved both. LL had a more straight forward plot, but its characters were just as vulnerable and revealing.
I thought Horizon's writing was on the weaker side, at least compared to its combat, which I thought was great.
Aloy just fell flat for me, and the story beats didn't keep me engaged. I enjoyed the game, but the writing didn't really factor into my enjoyment.
I felt the best video game writing last year was in Yakuza 0.
Aloy just fell flat for me, and the story beats didn't keep me engaged. I enjoyed the game, but the writing didn't really factor into my enjoyment.
I felt the best video game writing last year was in Yakuza 0.
Quality aside, how many of those games were eligible for this award?
my 2017 GOTY, they did an incredible job having a focused storyline in an open world game, the only other open world game I thought that was able to pull it off was Red Dead Redemption
I assume they had to be part of the Guild and then submit it.
That's said, my question was more directed to those in the thread who think it's the best writing in video games that year, or perhaps all time.
While I enjoyed the game, reading this thread, I was baffled at that amount of praise.
You really should have PMed the mod who warned you instead of asking here, but I'll answer you for this one: yes, a "positive" drive-by isn't treated in the same way because it's not typically meant to be provocative or inflammatory. From the FAQ:
Hope this helps.
This is just not true. You can PM the mod who sent you the warning (you see their name in the acknowledgement box). I reply to (or, if necessary, forward to admins) all the PMs I receive.
So once again: do not post moderation complaints here. Yes, mods and admins will hear you out if you contact them and ask nicely. Derail over, please carry on. :)
One of my favorite Sci-fi stories ever. Although I thought the side content lacked interesting narratives, they at least help flesh out the world that I was playing in. I think the game really kicks up about half way through the story... and it ends so gracefully T_T
-edit- to you guys complaining about Madden's inclusion... have you guys actually played it?
-edit- to you guys complaining about Madden's inclusion... have you guys actually played it?
If I ever find myself stuck choosing between Futurama, Madden, and Horizon, I know where the story is at! Snark aside, I try and give myself all the options for games that make sense. "Best of" awards from within a restricted pool just doesn't mean anything to me as a consumer. If I want to restrict the list of games I want to consider there is nothing stopping me going down a ranking of overall best in category and then choosing the highest lauded title that meets my needs. Congratulations to the winning team as it is always nice to be recognized but this has zero impact on my judgements or purchases as a consumer because it i truly want to choose a great story, it's my better interest to find someone who judged based on all games in the year, or at the very, very least all games on a certain platform.
i find it odd that Horizon wins for what is the weakest part of it's game. I couldn't even name you one other character other than Alloy. None of them had any traits, and the game did a terrible job world building, because it just killed the mystery.
OH look at all these tribes they are so dumb, no move on to the next one.
OH look at all these tribes they are so dumb, no move on to the next one.