Community RPG Codex GOTY 2023: Results & Cool Graphs

[Sweeper]

and if you haven't been asleep for the last 100 years you know exactly what kind of person graduates with a degree in literature, fails as a writer for literature graduates, then fails as a genre fiction writer and then ends up writing for videogames or p&p RPG's

kek, very, very true.
Vidya writers fall somewhere in between erotic novel scribblers and fanfictions hobbyists.
Sorry Chris.

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

Is it 2008 again?

In 2008 the biggest issue with recent releases was lobotomized gameplay, the writing etc is just b) amplified and there are people that will come in here and pretend it's not. Right now the biggest problem is finkcore writing and world building while the gameplay and design stand on their own. While Felipepepes encyclopedia isn't complete it does have most of what was released by going through it you can clearly see that im the period between 2006 and 2013 we've had only a handful of crpgs that weren't very small scale indies(large percentage of them yearly vogelware which is also an indicator of their quantity btw) or just action games with numbers going up.
I think I'll make a thread about this on the evening because we're reaching the point where people see the testaments to the decline as good because they're a decade old and old=good while at the same time going full schizo on good modern releases simply because new=bad.

 

[ArchAngel]

I didn't get to vote this year, but 2023 was a wonderful year for cRPG's.
It's a shame Rogue Trader released right at the end of the year because I think it could be higher with a couple months of patching.
Surprised Phantom Liberty isn't higher too, it was great. But I agree, expansions shouldn't win in such a stacked year.

Every time these GOTY votes come around I think of the dark days of the 00's, and how much better things are now.

It had zero good RPG releases but shit like BG3, D4, Starfield. And I count RT as 2024 because what they released in 2023 was alpha and now at start of 2024 it is finally beta. 2023 will be remembered as one of the worst RPG years in recent history (unless you are a filthy casual).

Obviously you were not playing RPGs during the decline.

I genuinely believed that games of the kind and quality that we got this year would never exist again in my lifetime. Sure starfield and D4 were kinda ass But we'll be talking about this year's crop of releases for decades to come and waxing nostalgic about the good old days of 2023 before too long, mark my words.

Of course I didn't play them, they were crap. I tried Oblivion, Skyrim, F3 and some others but didn't stick with them for long.
At that time I've played KotC, Blackguards, The Witcher and whatever few games were good. I've spent most time replaying games like BG1 and NWN2.

As for rest of your post, you are still talking like there were multiple epic RPGs in 2023. Which others were as epic and good in your mind as BG3 so that 2023 was The Year of RPGs.

 

[Hellraiser]

Second place is nothing to brag about when you've won so many first place awards.

With this I can agree. After all the additional exposition from it would be insignificant considering BG3 is already everywhere and even went against the likes of the latest Zelda on IGN and the rest for peak mainstream GOTY awards. Why bother with a forum that couldn't scrounge up more than 500 users for its annual gaming prom queen vote, when you go up against corporate behemoths the likes of Nintendo on IGN or Dorito Pope's award show? They're in the big leagues now.

The brand awareness in the kind of demographic the codex represents ("passionate" enthusiasts of the genre and/or hopeless contrarians and/or racist edgelords) is already near peak if not at peak. Owlcat meanwhile has released RT not that long ago and no doubt is still trying to build "brand awareness" even within fans of the genre, and also no doubt their PR/marketing person has less work writing award acknowledgement posts, so it is not surprising they bothered to throw around a few posts here.

But this is before considering that due to using licensed WotC IPs Larian might just need to be careful how they do PR in the first place. They no doubt got some brand management guidelines from marketing goons at WotC or Hasbro and corps can be very anal in how and where their brands are being promoted by third parties (and even themselves), especially in [current year]. It is very possible that even if Swen himself had the time and will to come and post here, even if they won, he would not do it because it takes one screeching moron on social media claiming, however unjustified it might even be, that the IP is being promoted via channels associated with wrong-think. Twitter got boycotted by advertisers for less and Hasbro has shareholders.

It'd show weakness to do so.

But this is just a plain dumb explanation/reasoning for the first part of that post, unless you meant to say "would expose weakness to twatter thought police mobs and they would go after them" (I agree they really are not in a position to have social media shitstorm about [current year] correct-think compliance, not when they deal with Hasbro/WotC IP). They're not some insecure high school teen girl wanting to win peer approval and dodge nasty comments from the mean popular girls. "My GOSH, have you seen that Larian? They like, lost the codex GOTY to JA3. I would literally DIE if that happened to me, they're like SUPER unpopular! We should like avoid Larian or we'll catch the lame virus."

If they would at all follow and treat this "award*" and event seriously, they would at most just acknowledge the result as something along the lines of "congrats to the winner" or similar type of standard respectful and mature "gentlemaney" or "fair play" response you see in sports or other competitions from those that didn't win, but voiced out their opinions on the contest afterwards in an interview or something. If the competition or result is deemed as "silly" you can just brush it off with a joke or respectful disagree or similar to how Swen reacted to Roxor's review in that tweet you linked to earlier ITT.

*is felipepe/infinitron/DU even sending at least a piece of toilet paper with "congratulations" scribbled on it to the winner?

 

[Lord of Riva]

*is felipepe/infinitron/DU even sending at least a piece of toilet paper with "congratulations" scribbled on it to the winner?

Well, at least I informed them on their steamforums. Some JA3 fans liked it, some BG3 fans came to the JA 3 forum to complain that the vote was rigged (So i just added the other poll).

The BG3 post was summarily ignored though.

 

[Swen]

 

[Lord_Potato]

and if you haven't been asleep for the last 100 years you know exactly what kind of person graduates with a degree in literature, fails as a writer for literature graduates, then fails as a genre fiction writer and then ends up writing for videogames or p&p RPG's

kek, very, very true.
Vidya writers fall somewhere in between erotic novel scribblers and fanfictions hobbyists.
Sorry Chris.

I think it's high time someone gave you a harsh lesson on the topic of what can change the nature of a man.

 

[Hellraiser]

*is felipepe/infinitron/DU even sending at least a piece of toilet paper with "congratulations" scribbled on it to the winner?

Well, at least I informed them on their steamforums.

I meant something physical that you can put on a shelf in the trophy cabinet or at least a "UR WINNER" lazy photoshop sent via email or other means to a developer.

 

[Swen]

Infinitron Do we get a physical award or something? Otherwise this GOTY "award" is completely useless.

 

[Lord_Potato]

*is felipepe/infinitron/DU even sending at least a piece of toilet paper with "congratulations" scribbled on it to the winner?

Well, at least I informed them on their steamforums.

I meant more like something physical that you can put on a shelf in the trophy cabinet or at least a "UR WINNER" lazy photoshop sent via email or other means to a developer.

May I provide a project for such an award, based on one of the most prestigious Codex buttons:

 

[rubinstein]

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Infinitron Do we get a physical award or something? Otherwise this GOTY "award" is completely useless.

A physical reward? Are you sure? It can prove to be quite...exhausting.

 

[Hellraiser]

Infinitron Do we get a physical award or something? Otherwise this GOTY "award" is completely useless.

A physical reward? Are you sure? It can prove to be quite...exhausting.

Oh so this is why felipepe is doing these events? I shouldn't judge, but maybe he should try bars or bible study clubs or something if he needs some companionship. Seems like the outcome would be healthier and more long-term that way.

 

[Cohesion]

Only on this fringe forum filled with low iq edgelords is BG3 "bad".

Why you are here then?

 

[Roguey]

I love how they cite no sources and present no evidence.

Are we really trying to argue that most video games writers are failed novelists?

The third link includes a screencap of a former Obsidian writer outright saying this is what's happening.

There are other examples.

Carrie Patel: Fantasy author.
Megan Starks: Paranormal romance author.
Kate Dollarhyde: SF/F author turned game writer turned back to SF/F author turned back to game writer.

Long before injecting BG3 with degenerate romance, Baudelaire Welch was an editor of a student newspaper at Oxford. The writing team is full of MFAs.

But this is just a plain dumb explanation/reasoning for the first part of that post, unless you meant to say "would expose weakness to twatter thought police mobs and they would go after them" (I agree they really are not in a position to have social media shitstorm about [current year] correct-think compliance, not when they deal with Hasbro/WotC IP). They're not some insecure high school teen girl wanting to win peer approval and dodge nasty comments from the mean popular girls. "My GOSH, have you seen that Larian? They like, lost the codex GOTY to JA3. I would literally DIE if that happened to me, they're like SUPER unpopular! We should like avoid Larian or we'll catch the lame virus."

Back when Bioware was on top, they had an official company policy of always saying they were the best and never publicly agreeing with any criticism, even if they agreed with it. Bethesda blacklisted the Codex over the negative Oblivion review, outright forbidding all employees and even contractors (Obsidian when they worked on New Vegas) from posting here. This is how management is.

 

[Modron]

I love how they cite no sources and present no evidence.

Are we really trying to argue that most video games writers are failed novelists?

Even fairly successful ones have been known to slum it from time to time: https://www.mobygames.com/person/2865/orson-scott-card/

 

[Hellraiser]

Back when Bioware was on top, they had an official company policy of always saying they were the best and never publicly agreeing with any criticism, even if they agreed with it. Bethesda blacklisted the Codex over the negative Oblivion review, outright forbidding all employees and even contractors (Obsidian when they worked on New Vegas) from posting here. This is how management is.

Winning second place isn't criticism nor is it equivalent to a negative review. I'm quite sure Larian hanged something along the lines of "BG3 - IGN GOTY 2023 nominee/finalist" on the office wall despite losing to I believe it was Zelda, and if they have the space on the back of the game's box or on the steam page they might also put it there for the GOTY edition since IGN is so important. Now that is how management is, if you can spin an award/distinction positively they will. "So good even the codex had to give it 2nd place!" and all that.

Furthermore these examples you provided aren't ones of avoiding showing weakness, they are about not validating criticism running contrary to existing marketing strategy and in general creating additional work for PR. For the same reason you don't have PR actively arguing reviewers are wrong even if they are wrong, ignoring is the simplest and cheapest way to deal with the problem. In Bethesda's blacklisting case it makes further sense from a risk management point of view, random non-PR employees might get into some discussion with posters from a "hostile" community and ending up saying something that creates a mess for PR. Not to mention wasting time when they could just go to some other community and get more sales with less effort.

 

[Lord of Riva]

Ahh the thread on the BG3 steam Forums got traction, nice. I'm basking in the butthurt.

 

[Cohesion]

Ahh the thread on the BG3 steam Forums got traction, nice. I'm basking in the butthurt.

Please give link.

 

[Swen]

Meanwhile on the hot and new RPG forum: https://rpghq.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1675-2023-rpg-of-the-year-poll

BG3 winning GOTY

 

[Lord of Riva]

Ahh the thread on the BG3 steam Forums got traction, nice. I'm basking in the butthurt.

Please give link.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/4342103279870446936/?ctp=2

EDIT: They want to delete the thread for "false advertisement" now

 

[Roguey]

Winning second place isn't criticism nor is it equivalent to a negative review. I'm quite sure Larian hanged something along the lines of "BG3 - IGN GOTY 2023 nominee/finalist" on the office wall despite losing to I believe it was Zelda, and if they have the space on the back of the game's box or on the steam page they might also put it there for the GOTY edition since IGN is so important.

It isn't the goty award they're drawing attention to.

@larianstudios' Swen Vincke (@LarAtLarian) accepts the IGN Awards for Best RPG and Best PC Game for Baldur's Gate 3!

Best RPG: https://bit.ly/3GPb5i5
Best PC Game: https://bit.ly/3RrfI6S

Thank you IGN!!!

That's best. Not second best.

 

[Lord of Riva]

Winning second place isn't criticism nor is it equivalent to a negative review. I'm quite sure Larian hanged something along the lines of "BG3 - IGN GOTY 2023 nominee/finalist" on the office wall despite losing to I believe it was Zelda, and if they have the space on the back of the game's box or on the steam page they might also put it there for the GOTY edition since IGN is so important.

It isn't the goty award they're drawing attention to.

@larianstudios' Swen Vincke (@LarAtLarian) accepts the IGN Awards for Best RPG and Best PC Game for Baldur's Gate 3!

Best RPG: https://bit.ly/3GPb5i5
Best PC Game: https://bit.ly/3RrfI6S

Thank you IGN!!!

That's best. Not second best.

But it's also IGN, tho.

 

[Ladonna]

Ahh the thread on the BG3 steam Forums got traction, nice. I'm basking in the butthurt.

Please give link.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/4342103279870446936/?ctp=2

EDIT: They want to delete the thread for "false advertisement" now

"Reported for advertising! REEEEEEE" lmao

 

[Swen]

Ahh the thread on the BG3 steam Forums got traction, nice. I'm basking in the butthurt.

Please give link.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/4342103279870446936/?ctp=2

EDIT: They want to delete the thread for "false advertisement" now

Literally nobody in the comments knows or cares about the codex.


Such "winning!", lol it would be funny if not so sad.

Better trolling next time