This is great! Horizon has one of the absolute best stories in games, and in science fiction in general. It has a great cast of characters (Aloy, Sylens, Erend, and Rost stand out), an amazing premise and backstory, and excellent writing.
Horizon Zero Dawn wins Writers Guild Award for best video game writing
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I mean, out of those games I'd give it to Horizon (not played Death of the Outsider, or even Dishonored 2 yet :( ) but what is up with that list? I did enjoy the story in Horizon, I turned the difficulty way down and ignored most sidequests just to get on with the main path (I hated the combat in that game). I really liked the characters in Horizon and the mystery of what happened to Earth and it was cool discovering that and I feel it was well written with well realised characters.
Though I don't know if I would pick Horizon from other games of last year for best written.
Though I don't know if I would pick Horizon from other games of last year for best written.
Oh, uh thanks for the warning but I mean what I said.
Could you honestly look at what Horizon was competing against and tell me with a straight face the standards were some high bar worth conquering?
Pretty low standards if you ask me. Maybe I do not understand what makes a "drive-by" post, somehow it is only an issue when the connotation is negative? Yet, 1-3 word posts which amount to little more than blind approval and serve no purpose to further conversation do not count as drive-by?
To expand, I don't think Horizon had good writing because it does little to innovate on the "rogue AI gone bad" trope, and as others have said there is very little character development overall. Furthermore, were it forced to compete with last years actual heavy hitters like say Automata, Hellblade, LiS: BtS, Horizon would fall flat right quick.
Is there a way to dispute moderation tickets? You are forced to click "I understand" to do literally anything afterwards, but in-fact I do not understand the warning at all. What about my statement was wrong? Somebody point out to me the high-standards of writing among these highly suspect and limited (by a guild) choices. As far as "bailing out" goes, I was quoted once and it was an agreement no less. Had somebody quoted my post to demand explanation they would have had it.
Looking at many other posts in this thread, I am very confused about the notion or meaning of "drive-by" post. Right above this post is the same sentiment even...
Horizon definently had the best story, characters, writing, and world of any game released last year, bar none. It's not even a contest.
It's one of the greatest of all time up there with Red Dead Redemption, Fallout New Vegas, Bioshock, etc.
It's one of the greatest of all time up there with Red Dead Redemption, Fallout New Vegas, Bioshock, etc.
Like, I just really don’t agree with this. Horizon is a really good game and I enjoy it, but it strengths were not in the script, character development, or overall story.
The lore and visual logs were so much better than the present day stuff. There was such a huge discrepancy in quality between these two aspects of the game that I can’t praise it overall.
The lore is part of the overall package. I agree that the narrative presentation was lacking in a lot of ways but the content of the story/lore was outstanding. It vastly exceeded my expectations.
Oh I don’t disagree with the quality of the lore. The logs and backstory were very well done and big reasons why I like the game. But like you said it’s part of an overall package which the other part is not very good. The development of present day characters is inconsistent, the side quest writing is poor, and the main plot is poor as well as the main character. Big deductions.
I'm not sure how good the overall plot is because I couldn't finish it, but the moment to moment quests and story was so poorly written that it baffles me.
Put the game down for the first time after the quest Hunter's Blind where glinthawks are attacking a city because hunters are killing snapmaws which are attracting the hawks. You find them tell them to stop and they say well I just need 1 more heart! So Alloy says fine I'll go get it for you and you kill another Snapmaw in the same exact area. It's like they didn't even try to make a logical quest, just how can we get the player to fight a machine?
Picked it back up and did the main quest The Sun Shall Fall, where I pushed explosives out a window onto the street below cause that makes sense and everyone in the city heard the ensuing explosion except the bad guy who set up the explosives. Traded the game in afterwards.
I don't think I'm being hypercritical, but these two examples were just too dumb. I can play games with dumb stories, I'm playing MHW atm and loving it, but the strength of that game isn't in the story, but the gameplay.
I truly feel though that HZD 2 can be a great game now that the team has made their first RPG and they can hopefully focus more on quest design instead of other stuff. I'll just read a plot summary of HZD when the time comes for the sequel however.
Put the game down for the first time after the quest Hunter's Blind where glinthawks are attacking a city because hunters are killing snapmaws which are attracting the hawks. You find them tell them to stop and they say well I just need 1 more heart! So Alloy says fine I'll go get it for you and you kill another Snapmaw in the same exact area. It's like they didn't even try to make a logical quest, just how can we get the player to fight a machine?
Picked it back up and did the main quest The Sun Shall Fall, where I pushed explosives out a window onto the street below cause that makes sense and everyone in the city heard the ensuing explosion except the bad guy who set up the explosives. Traded the game in afterwards.
I don't think I'm being hypercritical, but these two examples were just too dumb. I can play games with dumb stories, I'm playing MHW atm and loving it, but the strength of that game isn't in the story, but the gameplay.
I truly feel though that HZD 2 can be a great game now that the team has made their first RPG and they can hopefully focus more on quest design instead of other stuff. I'll just read a plot summary of HZD when the time comes for the sequel however.
The WGA doesn't play the games, they evaluate the writing based on the scripts submitted to them. If a developer doesn't submit a script they're not a contender.
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Did not know this, now things make sense to me, most of the problems I had were based off of quest design which probably isn't really evaluated if just going off a script I suppose.
Considering you had to be a paid member of the organization to be nominated, is it now Horizon Paid Awards? At least it makes more sense now, would have been absolutely laughable otherwise. The games with better writing are either Japanese and don’t care about stuff like this small western developers like those behind Edith Finch or Divinity.
I’m dying.
Congratulations to the team at Guerrilla. A very touching tribute to Gonzalez and McCaw's mothers too. The exploration of matriarchies in Horizon was an element I particularly enjoyed.
Here's hoping they can build on their great beginning with a solid follow up.
Here's hoping they can build on their great beginning with a solid follow up.
Ahahah you made it worth it.
Horizon is a good game, but not a fan of the story or the writing. Too shallow
Nier's story wasn't much to write home about. I think it has excellent characterization but I don't believe it's story is as marvelous as it's made out to be. Horizon had 2 central mysteries, possibly 3 that kept the story engrossing and made you want to seek answers to those mysteries. It should have been a nominee but I wouldn't consider it as a contender for winning.
It's not just Japanese or "small Western" developers; even a studio like BioWare never bothered to submit anything because the rules just don't really apply to most games.
That's why the nominees are always so odd. The majority of developers either don't bother or don't qualify (and it has nothing to do with actual writing quality).
The salt HZD invokes in some people is amazing. Best game of the generation for me and deserves all the recognition it gets.
Loved the story and Aloy was great so no salt here, Horizon is a superb game and the fact that they made something with such a bonkers premise yet have such a good story to explain it all blew my mind, I really expected some lame reason and yet it was the complete opposite. Deserved. Wouldn't have been my personal choice though, that would have been Yakuza 0 which was funny, emotional and exhilarating. Loved it.
Was just a great year.
Was just a great year.
I didn't really see what was so special about Horizon's writing after playing about 10-15 hours.
The clunky and odd dialogue in that game is some of the worst I've seen from a modern AAA game.
The clunky and odd dialogue in that game is some of the worst I've seen from a modern AAA game.
At least I can say one of the most deserving entrants won for once, which is more than I can say for this joke of an award normally.
Pretty sure they both won. Which basically says everything there is to say about this award.
I'm no mod but your initial post simply insulted everything in like four words. It was the definition of a drive by post, you didn't explain yourself, add any depth or anything to the conversation. You may well have meant what you said but it simply doesn't add to the conversation. This follow up post expanding on why you don't agree and what games you thought were better should have been what your first post was like to avoid the issue as it does add to the conversation and add possible spring boards for further discussion.
The negativity isn't the issue, how you wrote it was if that helps.
I was with you right up until you suggested that Breath of the Wild was a heavy hitter in terms of story telling. While I certainly think an argument could be made that Zelda has a better story than Horizon but I feel like the stories in both of those games are rough. The story of Zelda has a fantastic premise to build off of but it completely fumbles it by having mostly not great VO and the writing just doesn't go in any interesting directions. Thankfully, the story is pretty easy to ignore.
With that in mind, I would say Horizon's writing is a bit better mostly because the story of what happened in the past and all the sci fi stuff around that is great but all of the storytelling/writing around the tribes and those characters is just bad. It's bad and uninteresting. Nier:Automata, Wolfenstein, What Remains of Edith Finch and Night in the Woods are easily the best stories of last year. Nier and Wolfenstein are only worth playing because of their stories. Finch doesn't stick the landing and Night in the Woods story doesn't go in direction that I love but overall the writing is so good in the both of those.
Er, I have to sleep now but I didn't mention BotW. My apologies for not spelling it out, but LiS: BtS = Life Is Strange: Before the Storm lol. The other two I mention were Hellblade and NieR: Automata.
I won't comment on BotW since I don't have a Switch yet and I try not to judge things I haven't played myself. :)
Weird criteria for good writing.
EDIT: Just read your bio.
"I have an exceptional bias for Eastern Artistry, Philosophy, and Sensibilities, I won't try to hide it."
Makes sense.
There's no way to dispute it that I know of, and I don't think most mods put any effort into responding to PM questions about warnings and bans, at least in my experience.
Good. The game absolutely deserves it. Fantastic storytelling and wonderful writing in general.
Looking at the nominees, this seems like the Teen Choice Awards.
Against those games? Sure I guess, I haven't played Death of an Outsider.
But I HIGHLY disagree that it's the best writing of this year. It was good at best, I would only see it as the best if you don't play indie games.
To those of you who say it deserves it, have you all completed these games:
Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Come on, this is the clear winner)
What Remains of Edith Finch
Night in the Woods
NieR
Torment: Tides of Numenera (Disappointing but still better writing)
And if you have, how the hell does it beat them?
Aditionally, Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition came out this year and if y'all are saying Horizon's writing is better I will tear your world asunder. :)
Against those games? Sure I guess, I haven't played Death of an Outsider.
But I HIGHLY disagree that it's the best writing of this year. It was good at best, I would only see it as the best if you don't play indie games.
To those of you who say it deserves it, have you all completed these games:
Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Come on, this is the clear winner)
What Remains of Edith Finch
Night in the Woods
NieR
Torment: Tides of Numenera (Disappointing but still better writing)
And if you have, how the hell does it beat them?
Aditionally, Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition came out this year and if y'all are saying Horizon's writing is better I will tear your world asunder. :)
Once again, it is whoever submitted, if (your game of choice) was not even nominated, chances are, they never submitted a script.
They don't 'play the games'. It really should be a sticky in these threads, lol.
They don't 'play the games'. It really should be a sticky in these threads, lol.
Loved my time with Horizon but it wasn't strong in the writing department.
Probably the deserved winner in that group of nominees, however. Strange that Madden is nominated. I don't get it.
Probably the deserved winner in that group of nominees, however. Strange that Madden is nominated. I don't get it.
Madden's story mode....while being a little hamfisted, is WORLDS better than most video game writing. It's a decent little story. FIFA too.