Board 8 > As a refresher, here's the 2015 X-stats.

(+) Yeah! (+)

...With every game not from this decade removed.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim : 33.5110830704
Super Smash Bros. For Wii U : 29.697876
Grand Theft Auto V : 28.0987136
Fallout: New Vegas : 26.659748276992
The Witcher 3 : 26.4374381793522
Super Mario Galaxy 2 : 26.3486528933285
The Last of Us : 26.242447392
Mass Effect 3 : 25.513120668
Mass Effect 2 : 24.537960579072
Batman: Arkham City : 24.1432601088
Dark Souls : 24.089096
Read Dead Redemption : 23.6025771157113
Bioshock Infinite : 23.4979021313408
Xenoblade Chronicles : 22.764534043008
Portal 2 : 22.3496175
Fire Emblem: Awakening : 21.961997085408
Metal Gear Solid V : 21.487473632
Borderlands 2 : 20.4583073551452
Bloodborne : 20.37559186872
Pokemon X/Y : 19.73351562
Monster Hunter 4U : 18.31014544
Uncharted 2 : 18.1355
Shovel Knight : 18.035763445452
Undertale : 17.7678331404
Valkyria Chronicles : 17.7671412
Bayonetta 2 : 16.9985760387353
Minecraft : 16.1378343744
Mario Kart 8 : 16.069796
Civilization V : 16.043337936
Super Mario Maker : 15.6413343242276
The Binding of Isaac Rebirth : 13.6575805634533
Journey : 13.629708
Splatoon : 13.048260033536
Animal Crossing: New Leaf : 13.0144
Life is Strange : 12.39768012
Destiny : 12.2388358957238
The Walking Dead : 12.0129552
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors : 10.7164023698784
Virtue's Last Reward : 10.2666827062837
Hearthstone : 8.2524

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wow looks like I should be ready to take ME3 far...!

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I should probably put an enormous asterisk next to Mass Effect 3.

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hearthstone would probably be somehow weaker this contest

also fuck yeah Fallout New Vegas I hope it doesn't get screwed on the seeding

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I keep forgetting Portal 2 belongs to this decade. I wonder how it'd do here.

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KamikazePotato posted...

...With every game not from this decade removed.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim : 33.5110830704
Super Smash Bros. For Wii U : 29.697876
Grand Theft Auto V : 28.0987136
Fallout: New Vegas : 26.659748276992
The Witcher 3 : 26.4374381793522
Super Mario Galaxy 2 : 26.3486528933285
The Last of Us : 26.242447392
Mass Effect 3 : 25.513120668
Mass Effect 2 : 24.537960579072
Batman: Arkham City : 24.1432601088
Dark Souls : 24.089096
Read Dead Redemption : 23.6025771157113
Bioshock Infinite : 23.4979021313408
Xenoblade Chronicles : 22.764534043008
Portal 2 : 22.3496175
Fire Emblem: Awakening : 21.961997085408
Metal Gear Solid V : 21.487473632
Borderlands 2 : 20.4583073551452
Bloodborne : 20.37559186872
Pokemon X/Y : 19.73351562
Monster Hunter 4U : 18.31014544
Uncharted 2 : 18.1355
Shovel Knight : 18.035763445452
Undertale : 17.7678331404
Valkyria Chronicles : 17.7671412
Bayonetta 2 : 16.9985760387353
Minecraft : 16.1378343744
Mario Kart 8 : 16.069796
Civilization V : 16.043337936
Super Mario Maker : 15.6413343242276
The Binding of Isaac Rebirth : 13.6575805634533
Journey : 13.629708
Splatoon : 13.048260033536
Animal Crossing: New Leaf : 13.0144
Life is Strange : 12.39768012
Destiny : 12.2388358957238
The Walking Dead : 12.0129552
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors : 10.7164023698784
Virtue's Last Reward : 10.2666827062837
Hearthstone : 8.2524

That list looks like a giant mess with the way you show all of the decimal places. It'd be a lot easier to read if everything was rounded down to just 2 decimal places.
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those 2010-2011 single player games feel like they belong to the previous decade. Portal 2, AC Brotherhood, Arkham City, even Bioshock Infinite feel like they belong in 2008-2009. they might do pretty well because they feel almost nostalgic but they also just feel kinda forgotten.

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Tag

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By the way, I didn't think it hit me how weak this field is going to be until I made this list. I grabbed the full X-stat list from my old excel file, then started deleting older games from the bottom up. I went from barely removing anything to removing almost everything.

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I was planning on doing this. Thanks.
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KamikazePotato posted...

By the way, I didn't think it hit me how weak this field is going to be until I made this list. I grabbed the full X-stat list from my old excel file, then started deleting older games from the bottom up. I went from barely removing anything to removing almost everything.

yeah, it's really bad. that's why my big topic is just being kinda baffled on the first page that this could even be a thing. there are maybe 7 games above what we would consider the fodder line, unless you just start throwing more and more mediocre Mario and Zelda titles into the mix.

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Yeah, I don't know if a field necessarily has to be "strong" for a contest to be fun. GOTD1 was fun even though it was missing a lot of our best games, and Division 128 was a lot of fun, too. I think the fact that a lot of these games will basically be about the same strength means there's no telling what will happen.

I mean, I get that this field will be weaker than even that, and I get a lot of us have a hard time getting invested in that, but still, I'm optimistic we'll at least see a lot of close matches.

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Valkyrias from 2008 and Uncharted 2s from 2009.

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LeonhartFour posted...

I mean, I get that this field will be weaker than even that, and I get a lot of us have a hard time getting invested in that, but still, I'm optimistic we'll at least see a lot of close matches.

Also that we don't have a clear read on many of these games, if not practically all of them, depending on how much credence you lend 2015. I know the winner will be obvious, and the field will be weak, but I also think we'll see lots of quality matches and setups.

transience posted...

there are maybe 7 games above what we would consider the fodder line

That's a weirdly high fodder line.

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oh man, put division 128 in this contest -- the 2004 version -- and I think it might have like 9 of the top 10 games

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Yeah, Division 128 would rock this contest, but those were considered the weak links of the original Games Contest and that thing was a wild ride.

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7 is a bit strict. Like this list alone has 19 games that are above 20% BaseCT.
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transience posted...

those 2010-2011 single player games feel like they belong to the previous decade. Portal 2, AC Brotherhood, Arkham City, even Bioshock Infinite feel like they belong in 2008-2009. they might do pretty well because they feel almost nostalgic but they also just feel kinda forgotten.

To me, for some reason, this decade feels like it started in 2015

Undertale, which came out in 2015, feels like it's brand-new to me. Stuff that came out in 2013-2014? Might as well be ages ago.

that's because the consoles changed out in 2013 and became legit around 2015.

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Just look at the number of JRPGs on that list and that should tell you everything about how gaming/this site has evolved

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up

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This will be way too hard to pick. Looks like my streak of 2 consecutive top 50 finishes will end here

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There are lots of fantastic games this decade, but the average person who still comes to GameFAQs probably hasn't played them. A fair percentage of users here that still game probably just play remasters of their old favorites + Nintendo's AAA.

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If you're the kind of person who doesn't trust someone else's X-Stats adjustment, here's the raw results so you can make your own determinations.

http://www.thengamer.com/xstats/ranks.php?bracket=2015g

All games are clickable so you can see their full Contest history. OR if you just want to see the pure results stats, not adjusted for rallies or anything else, those are here:

http://www.thengamer.com/xstats/ranks.php?year=2015g&raw


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LordOfDabu posted...

There are lots of fantastic games this decade, but the average person who still comes to GameFAQs probably hasn't played them. A fair percentage of users here that still game probably just play remasters of their old favorites + Nintendo's AAA.

*raises hand*

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Ngamer64 posted...

If you're the kind of person who doesn't trust someone else's X-Stats adjustment, here's the raw results so you can make your own determinations.

http://www.thengamer.com/xstats/ranks.php?bracket=2015g

All games are clickable so you can see their full Contest history. OR if you just want to see the pure results stats, not adjusted for rallies or anything else, those are here:

http://www.thengamer.com/xstats/ranks.php?year=2015g&raw

I've always gone by adjusted x stats. I trust anyone dedicated enough to bother doing it that they know what they're doing...

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Ngamer64 posted...

If you're the kind of person who doesn't trust someone else's X-Stats adjustment, here's the raw results so you can make your own determinations.

As the person who made the adjusted stats I'm...mostly confident in them? As confident as I can be considering all the rally spillover that happened. The biggest weirdos are actually the Mass Effect games - I don't trust those numbers but it's how things shook out.

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The site has also changed a lot in 5 years and our vote totals have dropped off a cliff, so I'd be wary about following them too religiously, even if they're largely accurate for 2015.

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Well, yeah. Some of these games are going to fall off or get stronger. I think the former is more likely than the latter, though. For example, I struggle to see Arkham City doing well again.

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I'm really curious to see how Destiny/Destiny 2 do. The franchise has come a long way since 2015

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I literally forgot Destiny existed until this very moment.

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Wasn't RE2 in 2015?

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pjbasis posted...

Wasn't RE2 in 2015?

It was! Lost to Final Fantasy Tactics.

That result may be reversed nowadays.

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Skyrim did better than I remembered. I'd still take Smash Bros Ultimate over it, but it might be #3 in the contest.
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BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

I'm really curious to see how Destiny/Destiny 2 do. The franchise has come a long way since 2015

Has it really

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Yeah, I was wondering about the methodology for these adjustments.

The fact that even after adjusting, ME3 > ME2 seems odd. I've never played any of them but I heard the general consensus was 2 > 1 > 3

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TsunamiXXVIII posted...

Yeah, I was wondering about the methodology for these adjustments.

The fact that even after adjusting, ME3 > ME2 seems odd. I've never played any of them but I heard the general consensus was 2 > 1 > 3

It's been too long since I did the adjustments to remember exactly how I did it, but it usually involves a lot of cross-referencing (and at times, a bit of guesswork) to get stats that eliminate the effects of SFFs, rallies, bandwagons ect. It's as good as you're going to get considering 1/4 of the bracket was trashed by rally spillover.

ME3's stat specifically is worthless because it faced Undertale in Round 1, and ME2 just didn't do well. ME1 ranked above it as well.

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Another rally is going to definitely happen again. I wonder if SBAllen will implement the same thing he did in 2018 with the double votes.

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That GTA5 ranking is super stressful to me. I imagine most people will just predict that GTA5 will choke and lose at the first opportunity. But if, like me, you want to make a call that that ranking is reasonably real, you'll likely have to pick GTA5 winning match after match.
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I would not be surprised at all if GTAV ended up making it as far as the round of 8 with the right draw.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6139-best-game-ever-day-23-round-2-grand-theft-auto-v-vs-super

By GotD 2 standards, that's a very good result. I have no idea if GTAV retains that strength whatsoever.

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The one thing that concerns me with GTA V is that it could be a series on this site that doesn't really feed into nostalgia, which means the games age like a grilled cheese sandwich. Something about V placing so much higher than San Andreas or Vice City despite GameFAQs almost always going for older games just gives me red flags.

On the bright side for it, GTAV being such a cash cow for Rockstar and being the top game in sales might give it some respect in it being a Game of the Decade contest. That factor was sort of a thing the last time.

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KamikazePotato posted...

Minecraft : 16.1378343744

so is Minecraft going to be on two GotD contests?

Im not too concerned about strength honestly. I especially disagree that division 128 would stomp - when you get below the top 5 or 6 it tanks in strength, especially now that Half-Life has gone off a cliff. I would take Breath of the Wild over every one of those games, and possibly Smash Ultimate too. If you comprised a top ten of that and the last decade I think it would be fairly balanced.

There is also something critical to keep in mind here too, which is that the second half of this decade is substantially stronger than the first. An overwhelming majority of those games were either not in the last contest or would have gained significantly. Also GOTD1 had the highest floor of any contest, and I think that could be replicated here though obviously that was helped by vote-ins. But I can see this contest having both a higher high and low than GOTD1 in terms of strength.

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firefdr posted...

so is Minecraft going to be on two GotD contests?

Minecraft hasn't been in one yet.

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