Board 8 > quick bracket thoughts

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm not going to predict every match because honestly, who the hell knows? this thing is going to be a mess. others will do that I'm sure.

division 1:

https://i.imgur.com/Wdn99rx.png

this one feels pretty easy compared to the others. BOTW is obviously the division winner unless something unusual happens. the bottom half of the bracket is a little trickier -- the first round is fairly obvious (we might see the top seed win all 8 matches here?) but any of the others could conceivably get to the division finals.

I think the most interesting game is probably DQ11 which could flame out quickly or have 3 easy matches. the switch version didn't do so hot but the game is still one of the standout JRPGs of the last few years, and that still means something here. at the same time, Sekiro actually did pretty reasonably in a GOTY poll and Walking Dead is a super memorable game. good bracket setup.

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Hai tranny

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division 2:

https://i.imgur.com/2QYOpOU.png

Mass Effect 2 will probably be the favourite, and rightly so, but I'm not sure it's a lock? RE2 is a 90s game and that means something, and Fire Emblem: Awakening is more popular than you might think. in fact, Awakening vs. RE2 is a fun one given the recent battle between RE2 and Three Houses. was RE2 weakened by its remake status, or will it be in this format? it's hard to say.

you also can't write off Bloodborne which is still really highly regarded and relevant despite being 5 or 6 years old, or Fallout 4 which probably doesn't hang with ME2 but it's not insane to think it could give it a match. ME2 has really fallen off in recent years as Mass Effect has become a bit of a joke franchise with Andromeda and, while not totally related, Anthem. Bioware just ain't what it used to be, kinda like the Metal Gear series. so yeah, ME2 will be the favourite but if it shows any signs of weakness, there are good games here that can take advantage of it.

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tag!

DQXI to the division finals, let's go!

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division 3:

https://i.imgur.com/qEDcFz8.png

...dear god. I see what you did here, Allen. the top half of this bracket, and this division in particular, is jamming all of the worthwhile Nintendo games together and feeding them to each other. (by the way, I'm not sure if it's intentional, but there seems to be a 2 game franchise cap? 2 Marios, 2 Zeldas, 1 Pokemon... Efforts Were Made, let's just say.)

unless Undertale does it again, this is really just an Odyssey/Ultimate matchup without a whole lot of other interesting matches, with the winner getting to run straight into Breath of the Wild. Link Between Worlds could have been a big upset in the right division, but it'll be hard pressed to compete with Ultimate. it'll be fun trying to measure Odyssey's performance on Undertale or Shovel Knight against Ultimate's on Spiderman or Minecraft or whatever. we're not gonna have much to go on here and we'll draw all the conclusions that we can.

it would have been fun to see Odyssey take on Skyrim or Dark Souls or whatever but it might be for the best if we relegate all the Nintendo to the top bracket so we don't all get depressed when the final 8 is 6 Nintendo games or something silly.

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Darn, beat me to it!

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you'll be way more thorough using past matches and picking winners and the whole nine! I go intentionally out of my way to not do that, so you'll certainly come to different (better) conclusions than I will!

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transience posted...

you'll be way more thorough using past matches and picking winners and the whole nine! I go intentionally out of my way to not do that, so you'll certainly come to different (better) conclusions than I will!

I dunno. You usually have better scores than I do!

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These bracket topics are always a welcome addition for me.

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division 4:

https://i.imgur.com/WER38va.png

the top half of the bracket is clearly set up for GTA5 vs. Red Dead. but I imagine a lot of people are going to cling to the surprising Persona 4 Golden here? I didn't expect it to be here but it's welcome given the lovely draw that it was able to pull off. those three games are probably the consensus favourites for this division.

the bottom half of the bracket gets Xenoblade vs. Fire Emblem, a nice rematch (more or less) after the 2015 match that was neck and neck. that was a different FE game but there aren't a lot of reasons to think 3H is much different than Awakening. maybe it is though, and if so Xenoblade is in trouble. but then, Xenoblade is a much bigger deal in 2020 than it was in 2015 as it has become a legit Nintendo franchise. it's tough to see Dragon Age doing much against either of these games but it isn't the weakest game in the field or anything.

I expect that a lot of debate will be about the RPGs here and not the Rockstar games -- Persona 4, 3H and Xenoblade. I'm not sure if that's right, but they're all around the same strength so there's probably merit in picking any of these to go. Persona 4 is probably the favourite given how popular 5 has become?, but it's certainly not a lock or even a majority opinion.

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transience posted...

you'll be way more thorough using past matches and picking winners and the whole nine! I go intentionally out of my way to not do that, so you'll certainly come to different (better) conclusions than I will!

The more threads, the better, imo. I think I'll use this one to catch the most obvious bad picks then use Leon's and others for fine tuning.

@transcience Ok but Horizon Zero dawn vs Fortnite? I think Fortnite could see some serious leauge of legends style rallying yeah? Should we worry?

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FakeAccount3000 posted...

@transcience Ok but Horizon Zero dawn vs Fortnite? I think Fortnite could see some serious leauge of legends style rallying yeah? Should we worry?

History says to always bet against the casual/smartphone/social media/Gen Z game unless the adversary is turbofodder.

And if you believe there will be a rally, you might as well take it all to the end, and it's a different discussion to have.

The reason for the above is that such games get anti-voted. The average nintendo/sony drone sees Fortnite and automatically clicks whatever the other option is.

And if Fortnite does get a rally going it could spice up the other 3 matches that'll be happening that day.

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division 5:

https://i.imgur.com/04EtQNy.png

I guess at this point I should say that I like this bracket. division 5, like most of the ones before it, features a lot of would-be contenders that don't always thrive here, and then a Nintendo game that's worth just enough to make you think.

Witcher 3 should probably be looked at as the favourite. Mario Galaxy 2 is here, but this is a game that lost to Mass Effect. in fact, it's interesting that Mass Effect 3 and Starcraft 2 are having a first round matchup given that ME1 edged out Mario Galaxy 2 and ME2 edged out Starcraft in the last contest. there will be a lot of interesting measuring sticks as Witcher 3 comes into that third round matchup, and as the sole Nintendo game in a pack of western RPGs, Galaxy 2 will find its way to a lot of support, justified or not.

the bottom half is hard to buy into. New Vegas should be pretty good but there is a valid concern that it's faded with age, and with Fallout basically pulling a Mass Effect and going irrelevant due to poor franchise management. God of War does surprisingly well in polls and has a chance to win its eightpack. it's probably between that and New Vegas unless Dark Souls 3 actually has a following. with that series, I think it's the original and then others lagging far behind, kinda like Pokemon RBY vs. the rest or something like that.

Witcher 3 shouldn't have a problem if it beats Galaxy 2, unless New Vegas is really legit and enough people remember it fondly. I would be surprised to see that.

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division 6:

https://i.imgur.com/tnzICr1.png

this division is kind of a dud. I think parts of it are unpredictable but it's not especially fun or competitive.

Persona 5 seems like the clear favourite. it's kinda funny that we could have two Persona games in the top 8. I guess that kinda says what you need to know about this decade in video games on this site. Red Dead 2 might be okay, and Portal 2 has a shot, though Portal has probably faded as that series faded to black in terms of relevance.

the dark horse here is probably Kingdom Hearts 3, but I think it getting a 6 seed says it all. that's like the only major Square game of the last couple of years and it could only get a 6 seed. it'll need some real franchise votes in order to topple Portal 2, and it probably a matchup with any game worth anything. Portal 2 vs. RDR2 could be a fun debate but it just feels like a pick 'em without a lot of emotional investment. Persona 5 probably beats both, and if not it'll probably be because of P5's weakness, not the other games' strength.

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division 7:

https://i.imgur.com/DfgyAk6.png

I don't like this division. it doesn't feel fun or right. basically, I see this bracket as having three monster critical darlings, games that should do better in a game of the decade contest than you might think. those are Witcher 3, Dark Souls and Last of Us. I could probably google "game of the decade" and find a bunch of lists with those three games.

Dark Souls and Last of Us, instead of competing against other big games, end up together. on top of that, we get a Dark Souls/MGS5 rematch that's even more lopsided today than it was in 2015. I was really proud of calling that match correctly back then but it's going to be goddamn obvious now. MGS5 started poorly and has only gotten worse as the years have gone on.

the other games in this bracket don't really have a lot going. Arkham City and Diablo 3 could have maybe done something with better bracket placement but they aren't going to compete with Last of Us. well, I guess Diablo 3 could maaaaybe do something given that it's been console-ized and is fairly well liked after years of iteration, but that's a tough sell against a true game of the decade kind of game.

as for Dark Souls and Last of Us.... I don't know, I feel like Dark Souls is the more relevant game, at least to this audience? Last of Us 2 just misses this contest but maybe it gets some grand reveal on the PS5 inbetween now and the match in April and who knows?

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division 8:

https://i.imgur.com/mcCN9pv.png

I don't really like this division either. it's mostly because Nier Automata, one of the most debatable games of this contest after 2B's surprise showing, has a path that's a little too straightforward for my tastes. well, I guess it depends on if this single Pokemon game gets the strength of the franchise behind it. we didn't get X/Y, or Sword/Shield, or any of the mainline games. I'm guessing they split votes since they're all basically the same thing (except for Sword/Shield which has its own set of problems with this specific fanbase). it's really funny that the only Pokemon game we got was a remake. (cause they're all remakes, am I right?)

Skyrim wins this one going away. FF14 has a lot of momentum behind it so maybe it beats Uncharted 4?, but probably not. on the bright side, there are a lot of monster matchups on the bottom half that should be super interesting once we get to the top 8.

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Putting all the strong Nintendo games together is the problem with the bracket I think. Would've been much more interesting if they were more spread out.
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top 8:

https://i.imgur.com/YbotTvh.png

this seems like what I would expect for a chalk bracket? you can nitpick some of the entries and that's fine.

Breath of the Wild will obviously walk over the division 2 winner, barring some unnatural events. ME2 may have been wasted in this bracket placement but I can't say I mind too much because I find WItcher 3, Last of Us, Dark Souls 2, etc as being much more interesting. Smash Ultimate or Mario Odyssey will beat on what is probably the weakest division winner, though P4G could be better than P5 if it isn't punished for being a remake. (people probably won't even notice, honestly.) I like that, of all the ones that got sacrificed to Nintendo, it was this division.

the bottom half is where all of the debate should be. Witcher 3 vs. Persona 5 seems like it should be a clear Witcher win, but this site can be strange and Witcher has never really shown to be a beast. then again, it's gotten more popular every year and might actually end up in the final. it also might lose before it even gets to the top 8.

Dark Souls vs. Skyrim seems like a matchup where everyone picks Skyrim because it's proven more, but I'm not so sure. Dark Souls has become such an influential game that it probably gets some bonus points over the fifth Elder Scrolls game, a game that probably doesn't hold up like it should.

hopefully Skyrim wins though, because if it gets a semifinal match with Witcher 3, that'll be awesome. Witcher 3 has kind of replaced Skyrim in a lot of eyes but it isn't as well known as Skyrim is. it'll be interesting to see this match if it happens.

either one gets butchered by Breath of the Wild.

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transience posted...

division 8:

https://i.imgur.com/mcCN9pv.png

I don't really like this division either. it's mostly because Nier Automata, one of the most debatable games of this contest after 2B's surprise showing, has a path that's a little too straightforward for my tastes. well, I guess it depends on if this single Pokemon game gets the strength of the franchise behind it. we didn't get X/Y, or Sword/Shield, or any of the mainline games. I'm guessing they split votes since they're all basically the same thing (except for Sword/Shield which has its own set of problems with this specific fanbase). it's really funny that the only Pokemon game we got was a remake. (cause they're all remakes, am I right?)

Skyrim wins this one going away. FF14 has a lot of momentum behind it so maybe it beats Uncharted 4?, but probably not. on the bright side, there are a lot of monster matchups on the bottom half that should be super interesting once we get to the top 8.

To be fair hgss is the closest to a consensus favorite the series will ever get.

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I think HGSS could potentially run all the way to the finals! Of course, it could also get stopped by Automata.

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I guess if anything would make a surprise run, outside of a rally, it'd be a Nintendo game. the bottom half is interesting like that. some crazy person will put Galaxy 2 in the finals.

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Would HGSS really be a surprise run though? Pretend it's GSC there or do you think it being a remake downgrades it significantly?

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transience posted...

I guess if anything would make a surprise run, outside of a rally, it'd be a Nintendo game. the bottom half is interesting like that. some crazy person will put Galaxy 2 in the finals.

I think Shine already has!

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