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God Of War Is More Than Game Of The Year- It’s A Celebration Of Second Chances

patapon

patapon

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Dec 7, 2017
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https://remoteplay.co.uk/2018/12/07...the-year-its-a-celebration-of-second-chances/


Last night's Video Game Awards were one of the most endearing, uplifting, and monumental moment's of any award's show in recent memory. Packed with tons of incredible moments -The Pathless debut, Joker in Smash, and Shawn, Phil, and Reggie standing shoulder to shoulder- none could measure up to the finale.

Leading up to the close, Red Dead Redemption 2, a game that is considered a technical, financial, and sales juggernaut- was considered the front runner. My twitter feed, mainstream gaming sites, and personal friends included- all were under the assumption that it had Game of the Year won just by those feats alone.
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"The Winner for Game of the Year is….. God of War."

That instant something magical happened. God of War winning meant more to me than I initially ever thought about. God of War wasn't just a tale of Kratos and his son, but it was a journey that resonated on a spiritual and emotional level with me- more so than any game I can think of in recent memory.
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God of War isn't just a victory for PlayStation, but it's a victory for Studio Santa Monica. Following God of War: Ascension- Sony Santa Monica was rifed with cancelled projects, multiple reboots, and rumors of closure. Irrespective of all this- Shu Yoshida, Shawn Layden, and the upper Management at PlayStation decided to give them a second chance.
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A Second Chance. In an industry where studio closures, job stability, and trends shift like the winds – PlayStation decided to take the high road and give the team an opportunity to prove themselves. This could have been the greatest decision ever made.
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God of War is greatness.

What Sony Santa Monica went onto produce is one of the greatest games of all time. A game that proves Metacritic scores, rumorous pessimism, and prior failures aren't what define you or your success. They produced a game considered a landmark achievement in cinematic scope, artistic flourish, and character development. But more so than anything else- they believed in art and the people behind it. That's something truly magical.
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Izanagi89

Izanagi89

"This guy are sick" and Corrupted by Vengeance
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Oct 27, 2017
15,206
And this is why I really love Sony, despite their recent missteps. I'm glad they believed in Santa Monica enough to give them another chance because it lead to the studio creating one of my favorite games this generation.
 

ThisIsBlitz21

Member
Oct 22, 2018
4,673
Woah, I never knew SSM went through so many troubles before developing God of War. Nice to see that they got redemption. (heh)

If only they gave Evolution studios another chance as well.
 
Betty

Betty

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,604
Yeah, after Ascension I was done with God of War forever, and I am a mega fan of the series.

The new one has me eager for all the sequels they can pump out.
 
Flash

Flash

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Oct 27, 2017
377
ScaleboundGOTY said:
This article is a little pretentious. Its just an average videogame.
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Prepare yourself...
 
signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,437
Taking the high road seems like an odd phrasing, especially if all of those reboots and etc. were just unreleased projects. Could you say the same about Overwatch in 2016 then? It won the same award and was based off that cancelled Titan project. Maybe this is somehow different but was Sony really looking to shut down SSM?
 
Kyoufu

Kyoufu

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Oct 26, 2017
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ThisIsBlitz21 said:
But Motorstorm Apocalypse was great tho?

It's not Evo's fault that they ended up launching the game right in the middle of the PSN outage.
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1. Poor sales and a 77 metacritic for an expensive project, not good for a AAA studio.

2. The game wasn't affected by the PSN outage, the only things you could say affected it was the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011 and the New Zealand 6.3 magnitude earthquake which meant they pulled its release in those regions. It still sold poorly elsewhere.

So then they had to bounce back with Driveclub, and the rest is history.
 

ThisIsBlitz21

Member
Oct 22, 2018
4,673
Kyoufu said:
1. Poor sales and a 77 metacritic for an expensive project, not good for a AAA studio.

2. The game wasn't affected by the PSN outage, the only things you could say affected it was the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011 and the New Zealand 6.3 magnitude earthquake which meant they pulled its release in those regions. It still sold poorly elsewhere.

So then they had to bounce back with Driveclub, and the rest is history.
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1) Detroit Become Human got 78 meta, so it that a dud too now? Anything 75+ is a solid score, as defined by metacritic itself.

2) Not their fault in any way.

Yes the sales were low, but in no way was the game a dud. Evo got axed after just one misstep.
 
Oreiller

Oreiller

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Oct 25, 2017
8,992
God of War wasn't my GOTY (Celeste was) but it absolutely deserves to win such an award, it's a fantastic game despite its flaws.
 
Barnabas Reynolds

Barnabas Reynolds

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Oct 25, 2017
1,760
ThisIsBlitz21 said:
1) Detroit Become Human got 78 meta, so it that a dud too now? Anything 75+ is a solid score, as defined by metacritic itself.

2) Not their fault in any way.

Yes the sales were low, but in no way was the game a dud. Evo got axed after just one misstep.
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Look at what they went on to produce next and tell me Sony didn't make the right decision.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

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Oct 27, 2017
14,410
ScaleboundGOTY said:
This article is a little pretentious. Its just an average videogame.
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edit: Nevermind. I thought this was something written by Cory, but it wasn't. To that extent, I agree, it was a little over the top and just comes off as a huge fanboy expressing their glee.

Anyway, it wasn't my game of the year, but of the nominees, I'm glad it won over the others.
 
BrickArts295

BrickArts295

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Oct 26, 2017
14,126
ThisIsBlitz21 said:
If only they gave Evolution studios another chance as well.
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Nah, Evolution had a lot of chances to improve with the Motorstorm franchise and they didn't. Driveclub's delay/launch didn't do them any favors. Sony probably gave them one last chance to bring it back around with DC and they did with the patches and great DLCs but at that point I think fans just moved on and the sales weren't enough to convince Sony.

If there's one studio that needed a second chance, it was Cambridge. Sony should have give them the Killzone franchise after Mercenary.

Anyways, I wonder if Sony wants another franchise to be given the GOW treatment? I could totally see Uncharted or Killzone getting one for next gen. Hell I still think there's a bit hope to save The Order.
 

ThisIsBlitz21

Member
Oct 22, 2018
4,673
BrickArts295 said:
Nah, Evolution had a lot of chances to improve with the Motorstorm franchise and they didn't. Driveclub's delay/launch didn't do them any favors. Sony probably gave them one last chance to bring it back around with DC and they did with the patches and great DLCs but at that point I think fans just moved on and the sales weren't enough to convince Sony.

If there's one studio that needed a second chance, it was Cambridge. Sony should have give them the Killzone franchise after Mercenary.

Anyways, I wonder if Sony wants another franchise to be given the GOW treatment? I could totally see Uncharted or Killzone getting one for next gen. Hell I still think there's a bit hope to save The Order.
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Uhh...what? Pacific Rift and Apocalypse were both great games, and improved upon the first game. My point remains.
 
Decarb

Decarb

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Oct 27, 2017
8,704
The credit goes to Cory and his team as much as Sony, probably more. Remember Sony did not want to make another GoW game and Cory had to convince them with presentations that it could work.

Also if Evolution was given another chance Onrush would've been a first party game, and see how that would've turned out.
 

Deleted member 8852

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
3,896
I have a couple of qualms with the new GoW, it feels a bit too long and the lack of boss fights is a let-down. But those are problems easily fixed in the next game, the foundation for this reboot is extremely solid. So well deserved GoW, I look forward to where the franchise goes next.
 
EinBear

EinBear

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,694
God of War is probably the best game I've played this generation, and is thoroughly deserving of all it's awards.

But these attempts to spin it as some sort of underdog story are just bizarre. It's a huge AAA release, made by a proven team and using a hugely successful IP. It wasn't made by two people who quit their jobs to work in a garage or anything.
 
LAA

LAA

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 28, 2017
2,439
Really to me, is this a second chance as such though?
Loved all the GoWs, even ascension for its campaign (but the focus on MP I think lowered the campaigns quality/content). I dont think the past GoW gameplay has been bad or anything approaching it.
I would have been tremendously sad if Ascensions performance was took as a sign no one wanted GoW anymore.

That said, I think GoW 2018 is my personal GOTY this year and I think I can say I feel its better than past GoWs on multiple levels, but I wouldn't say a second chance like they failed before, but I'd say it's an reinvigoration of the series.
 
Mr.Deadshot

Mr.Deadshot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,285
I didn't know they were close to ne shut down. There were never any rumors about that that I am aware of. I only knew about the cancelt "Destiny"-like game which looked amazing. Too bad we never got that. But God of War truly is the game of the generation.
 

Nuclear Muffin

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
4,721
There is a point to be made that SSM was just one more failure away from closure, following both the failure of Ascension and of their cancelled New IP, but GOW was as safe as safe gets in today's industry. It was yet another Uncharted clone/cookie cutter Sony moviegame.
 
The Pharmercy

The Pharmercy

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Oct 26, 2017
1,040
Nuclear Muffin said:
There is a point to be made that SSM was just one more failure away from closure, following both the failure of Ascension and of their cancelled New IP, but GOW was as safe as safe gets in today's industry. It was yet another Uncharted clone/cookie cutter Sony moviegame.
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Hmmm someone didn't play it. Or doesn't see how it's basically a reboot done as well as it possibly could and considering how the series has been about more arcadey epic space battles is almost a genre change and thus a very risky business proposition.
 

Deleted member 135

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