Lurker > Lightning Strikes

The Noble Nine is just the Noble Nine now. It is a piece of contest lore and the rules dont matter - though using the contest rules when it was formed, it didnt actually break until Zelda in 2018 so congrats to her. If there were ever going to be an alteration, I would remove Sephiroth as he was always the odd man out, and could potentially be the weakest to boot. Then you have an Elite Eight of industry icons.

Regarding Gordon Freeman - GFNW was out of date before he actually won. Once Half-Life 2 launched he had a gigantic boost and only lost in 2005 due to being placed against immediately post-RE4 Leon Kennedy. He was only a true loser for those first three contests. Cecil is much more tragic and fitting as he keeps dropping debatable matches, though Guybrush is of course the biggest loser of them all. CATS should stay retired.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

RIP contest

(Again)

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Nah DPP was a gigantic deal. Pokemon doesnt get that nostalgia boost without those games.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Yeah if anything all the news about the making of TLOU Part 2 might have a negative impact. On the other hand RDR2 looked really good so likely not.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

They get better with each if you ask me, but really any order is fine.

How to Train Your Dragon might qualify, though I might just prefer 2 to 1.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Yuri_LowelI posted...

nah thats boring

do strongest european game instead

Spoilers: It's The Witcher III

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Terrific job azuarc, really really useful.

So to win, I need GTAV to win its division, ME2 to win its division, and Nier to beat Pokmon.

...So youre saying theres a chance!

Nah my big regret is doubting Xenoblade, especially since its one of my favourites.

Safer_777 posted...

Of course Japan and USA would dominate.

Thats to be expected, but it is still a decline of 14 from last time despite the US rising by 7 and the UK falling by 6, so its a lot more diverse than it used to be. There were only games from five countries last time - Japan, the US, the UK, Canada, and France. Maybe in ten years the US will have overtaken Japan and the two will be a minority of the games!

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

This discussion made me wonder where the games in this contest are coming from, so here's a list of the numbers of games by country, primary developers only:

Japan - 48
USA - 45
Canada - 10
France - 5
Sweden - 4
UK - 4*
Australia - 2
Poland - 2
Belgium - 1
China - 1
Croatia - 1
Finland - 1
The Netherlands - 1

*For VVVVVV, the developer is Irish but is based in the UK including during development and BAFTA count it as a British game so I counted it as such, but this could also be 1 to Ireland. I also counted Disco Elysium as British as that's where the main team was.

Overall Japan and the US are still dominant but there is a reasonable diversity of countries after those two, I'd expect more than last time. Shout out to Sweden for the most games per capita. I did not count Ori, Night in the Woods, or Red Dead Redemption 2 (spot the odd one out) as these all used widely distributed development models.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Two key issues with Breaking Bad:

1) The compressed timescale the plot runs on leads to some awkward anachronisms, like it apparently being 2007 at the start but Osama Bin Laden's dead less than a year later and also Rage is out (and is a terrible looking lightgun game).

2) The Nazis in the last season were extremely obviously forced into the narrative at the last minute.

It is pretty fantastic overall though.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

lordjers posted...

Dragon Quest losing in Japan )=

This is not that surprising. Japan loves Dragon Quest, but goes mad for Monster Hunter.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

BotW beats Chrono Trigger, and everything not called OoT, which only wins through the hierarchy.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Lol 82%. GG contest.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Three 80s in a row is a record right

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

This actually makes me think:

What GotY winners from this decade are no longer the strongest in their year?

Xenoblade>Borderlands 2

Doom>Final Fantasy XV

Is that it? Maybe The Last of Us could edge past ALBW but Im not sure.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Logan>DoFP>First Class>X2>Deadpool 2>Deadpool>X-Men>The Wolverine (good movies stop here)>X3>Apocalypse (mediocre movies stop here)>Origins

Never watched Dark Phoenix, but I suspect it would be the second actually bad film... I also hope that I can one day watch New Mutants and it ends up being one of the good ones!

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

It probably doesnt matter too much to the current GameFAQs audience, but I know numerous non-FF fans who still know Auron as the cool guy from Final Fantasy.

...and theyre right!

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Im going to guess Journeys stronger now due to it being free a lot, including right now, and coming to PC. It is also truly free right now, not just for PS+ members - so that is a good 32% of the site who dont have PS+ but do have a PS4 who can now play it. Good reason for it to improve.

However, I doubt it is nearly enough for Skyrim to beat Witcher.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Witcher II also had a high profile 360 version. The first was the one only PC gamers cared about.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Im not too worried about Nier vs. Divinity. It just means that Divinity is stronger than dome thought, but really it looked alright in 2017 and had reason to get stronger. The thing is however, that Raymans strength is still a massive question mark.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

I maintain that The Witcher II is the biggest snub of the contest.

The thing with Chrono though is that its two games. Is Chrono Cross stronger than Xenoblade 2? Maybe. Is it stronger than the combined strength of 2 and X? No. I would like series to mean 3+ this time honestly.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

I just read through this and I noticed some discussion of missing this guy are sick - not to worry, that line is not in this version of the game. All the rereleases other than the PSOne Classics version are based on the PC version, which had a significantly improved translation. Its still the same in the basics - so Aeris instead of Aerith, Safer Sephiroth instead of Sepher Sephiroth, and the old spell naming convention - but it does fix most of the blatant errors and read much more naturally. And so, this guy is sick. This is a good thing because not only was the PS1 version loaded with errors and awkward lines, but it actively worked against the player at a few points. I believe the updated translation still trolls you in the Guard Scorpion fight though!

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

There is a difference between one entry is significantly more popular than the others and only one popular game. None of those series have only one popular game, the closest would be Chrono.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Green Room

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

So MK8 is the most under-seeded game in the whole contest right

I bet it looks really good next round.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Thats 10% of the matches! And sitewide it was 5. Again, there were only 31 matches so that lessens the predictability argument if were talking about a 64 entrant bracket with a much deeper field to choose from.

In the topic of Zelda vs. FF, back then it was a lot more notable. That match was the tipping point in Zelda vs. FF on this site. After that it was all over. It also gave us one of the best topics in Board 8 history:

If Zelda beats Final Fantasy Ill eat my family

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

This Batman result is just further evidence of Xenoblade 1 winning division 4. The round 1 match was more to do with Xenoblade than Batman as expected.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

The last series contest wasnt that predictable. There were only four perfect brackets, numerous upsets, and looking at the gurus only a small minority got the overall winner right. If it had been 64 entrants nobody would have been perfect. And thats my point - it would be much less predictable this time because there are so many more viable series and the hierarchy has changed a lot.

I also definitely dont think it sucked! It wasnt an all timer, but its the best of the side contests, which play an important role.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Xenoblade is good in that regard too. There is even a dedicated subreddit for it.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Nioh is a PS4 console exclusive (though there is a PC version) and was published by Sony outside of Japan, same as Nintendo and Octopath Traveler. Both are essentially first party titles.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Advokaiser posted...

Also, people seem to forget that Ultimate came out roughly a month prior to its GotY performance. It obviously seems weaker in that poll.

In this particular case its a Smash Bros. game that was also the fastest selling exclusive of all time. Its no problem.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Well yeah it was always fairly obvious but my hand was forced, gotta pick something.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

That is a very fair point Leon, though it is worth considering that we've never really seen what a good adaptation could do to a game or series... Because there haven't been any until recently!

I will say for newcomers to the games though, the series doesn't just use Castlevania III, it also uses Symphony of the Night which is a good jumping on point (and Curse of Darkness I guess).

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

The star is definitely Xenoblade Chronicles because hot damn. Runner up would be GTAV.

No major turds this time, but if I had to pick I would say Bastion in that it got exposed. The only other game I would say could even qualify is Fallout 4 and that was A) due to round 1 shenanigans and B) potentially influenced by SFF.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

People definitely would put Hollow Knight on their top ten all time lists, though it's not quite enough to top FF's still very formidable name recognition on this site.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

I agree that we should always e careful comparing polls to contests, but so far God of War has looked like it earned it. Additionally, Fallout 3 ended up looking exactly like its 2008 polls against Brawl in the last GotD.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

God of War is really, really strong. It did slightly better on Ultimate than GSC would have against Brawl, and thats assuming no mid-contest increase for Majoras Mask.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

MechanicalWall posted...

The Sonic movie will make the series a Zelda slaying powerhouse, obviously

Yeah because those statements and adaptations are comparable >_>

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

I dont think thats obvious at all! Alucard is just one part of the series after all, and the series has effectively revived the brand.

Now, I am aware of the trap people fell into in the last series contest, namely I thought the movie would make Silent Hill beat Fire Emblem. The counterargument of course is that the Castlevania series is actually good...

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Leonhart4 posted...

The only way Castlevania wins is if KH3 really poisoned the well beyond repair. SotN is still the only Castlevania game worth anything here.

Even then Castlevania was the obvious more than the sum of its parts contender. Of course DoS still being fresh likely helped. And to that point we saw what the Netflix series did for Alucard.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

KH beating Castlevania is one of the only results Ive ever felt crushed by. I saw Castlevania winning (by a pretty reasonable margin IIRC) and went away until the next day. Then I checked the result and was floored.

I wonder if Castlevania could Netflix boost its way over the top.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Yeah I should have said that Zelda would definitely need to be out of the main bracket as the championship match for whatever wins the main contest. And that main contest wouldn't have an obvious winner which is good! Is FF still the number 2? Or would Mario take it, or even Smash Bros.?

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

It's heartening to see people overrating GSC continue into another GotD contest!

GSC just ain't that strong! It'd probably place about where it placed last time. It would get wrecked by BotW, SSBU, SMO, Witcher III, and Skyrim, and I would not be surprised to see it lose to God of War, Dark Souls and Persona 5. If all those were accurate it would place 9th, which is actually slightly below its place of 7th in GotD1 (though it was likely slightly overrated through MM). It's good but it's never been an elite.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

This contest has been really great so far, and we seem to be having them a lot more frequently than the mid-2010s period, so what better time to think about the next one? The first series contest was pretty good, with some very memorable moments, and it was the first contest to show Pokemon coming back in style and Zelda cementing itself over Final Fantasy as the site's favourite. but one of the more predictable contests, I believe we saw our first perfect brackets there (and I would have been one of them if not for Kingdom Hearts' ASV). It was probably a little bit too soon all things considered, there weren't really 32 series worth talking about and the presence of series with only two games at the time shows that.

Since then things have changed immeasurably. There are many notable series like Mass Effect that didn't exist in 2006, and series like Fallout which went from not cared about at all to one of the strongest on the site. There have even been brand new major Nintendo franchises. The series that were present have changed significantly as well. Final Fantasy has fallen, Sonic has gotten even worse, Metroid has gone from being to tier Nintendo to one of their lesser franchises. So a lot has changed, and the potential for excitement is much higher than it was in 2006.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

That FFVIIR spoilercast went up much quicker than I expected! I'm nowhere near finishing it!

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Wow Portal 2

The thing about Octopath/Shovel Knight is that it made Undertale look much more impressive. So it cant be used against indie games. And Sonic Mania is by an indie dev no?

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

CaptainOfCrush posted...

About that

Maybe I spoke too soon!

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

This SMB result has to be SFF, like what the hell.

Also I deeply regret changing from RDR2 next round to Portal 2 and I blame Yo. Ah well.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

ME3 has major major problems that arent the ending.

Like remember how theres a crew member who was a major part of the story? On disc launch day DLC. Just as one of the more egregious examples.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

A major blow to Kotaku and a major boon to wherever he's going.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser

Sony may be setting themselves up for a fall. Everything we've seen about the PS5 just seems... not great.

I mean if the exclusives are there I may still get one, but we'll see.

---

I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh Advokaiser