Contest Stats and Discussion - Part 1362

WELL I CAN'T PAY ATTENTION TO EVERYTHING, OKAY??

jk apparently it was already in my Steam wishlist with like 1400 other games and I forgot it existed.

I've been playing the bottom tier of the X-Stats for no discernible reason. I've played What Remains of Edith Finch and Return of the Obra Dinn recently, and I just bought The Talos Principle because it's on sake for 5 bucks

How do you see your bracket score now that the contest is over?

Safer_777 posted...

If we have a 90's games contests then the rule of 2 should be abolished

I mean, it would have to because it would cause FFIV to miss the bracket, and that's Allen's favorite game. A limit of 2 games per series would work against Allen in that situation because we'd only get FFVI and FFVII in the contest.

I don't think you really need a hard cap for 90s games. I get it for this contest just to provide some diversity in a weak field and so it doesn't get dominated by third tier Zelda and Pokemon. That's less of an issue with a 90s contest, and we want to see all the big names there.

I would've been happy seeing more Zelda/FF/Mario/etc. in this bracket too.

Mac Arrowny posted...

I would've been happy seeing more Zelda/FF/Mario/etc. in this bracket too.

Eh, I was fine not seeing FFXIII, Skyward Sword, or Pokemon Sun/Moon winning multiple matches. Stuff like that wins one match at most in a 90s contest, so I'm not too worried about a hard cap there.

Plus, I'm pretty sure Allen knows we'd riot if one of Mario 3, World, or 64 got cut. We complained about no Mario 3D World a bit, but nobody really cared.

@LinkMarioSamus posted...

How do you see your bracket score now that the contest is over?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/features/gotd_mybracket
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/features/gotd_stats

Can't wait for ffviii to be fed to big Nintendo in r2

so i didn't pay attention to any contest discussion, really. i'm looking at my guru bracket, and i took 14 risks (red) and only 3 of them paid off. (my stupidest call was easily taking red dead redemption over SSBU...) some of my questions:

1. why did people believe in resident evil 2 at all?

2. why was skyrim so highly estimated?

3. why the overestimation of fire emblem compared to xenoblade et al?

4. why was god of war so highly estimated? it wound up living up to that, but i'm unsure why it was favored over dark souls 3

what were some of the bigger surprises among stats people? and do you have intuitive explanations for some of these?

The answers to all of those questions is GotY polls, with some 2015 contest results for Skyrim.

pjbasis posted...

Can't wait for ffviii to be fed to big Nintendo in r2

Just as long as it isn't Mario World again! Save unnecessary rematches for Squall!

hmm, got it. the only high-leverage upset i got was witcher 3 > skyrim. i remember basically never having heard of witcher 3 and then watching it dominate in the GOTY polls and wondering what the hell i'd missed.

also god of war/resident evil 2 being named the way they are is super-confusing for me, that's a 1998 and 2005 game as far as i'm concerned!

SeabassDebeste posted...

so i didn't pay attention to any contest discussion, really. i'm looking at my guru bracket, and i took 14 risks (red) and only 3 of them paid off. (my stupidest call was easily taking red dead redemption over SSBU...) some of my questions:

1. why did people believe in resident evil 2 at all?

2. why was skyrim so highly estimated?

3. why the overestimation of fire emblem compared to xenoblade et al?

4. why was god of war so highly estimated? it wound up living up to that, but i'm unsure why it was favored over dark souls 3

what were some of the bigger surprises among stats people? and do you have intuitive explanations for some of these?

1) Resident Evil 2 got pretty close to winning its Division so it's not like that faith was misplaced. It looked good in 2019 GotY polls and it's a remake of a 90s game. Bish, bash, bosh.

2) Skyrim was the single strongest game of the decade at the time of the 2015 contest, which is why so many believed so much in it. I personally think a lot of people were turning a blind eye to how much the tide shifted against Bethesda and towards Witcher, but at least their beliefs were rooted in data.

3) Three Houses's massive success and high levels of engagement across the Internet was SUPPOSED to have helped the series across the board. We saw Persona 5 do this for its series... but it just didn't happen here.

4) Dark Souls III didn't even get past New Vegas? And God of War looked really good against Smash Ultimate in the 2018 GotY polls.

SeabassDebeste posted...

1. why did people believe in resident evil 2 at all?

Why not? Didnt it get within like 2% of the match it lost?

I had huge faith in RE2.

pjbasis posted...

Why not? Didnt it get within like 2% of the match it lost?

i mean "because it was right" isn't really a good answer! people believe in things that are wrong a lot too. will admit i didn't look at 2019 GOTY results though.

Skyrim actually ended up right around where it should have, it's just that Witcher boosted more than most people expected. I actually had Witcher over Skyrim until the last minute when I chickened out.

Believing in RE2 wasn't that strange, especially since we had super recent data of GameFAQs enjoying it and there was the potential to leech in some 90s strength as well.

Should've swapped RE2 and Xenoblade around.

MrZAP17 posted...

I still don't know what Celeste is.

You should fix it

SwiftyDC posted...

Best music track contest

Team Rocket Elite posted...

I'd love to see what azuarc's guru pick for that would be.

Probably something from Secret of Mana, right @azuarc ?

I thought Celeste was Catherine.

Leonhart4 posted...

I've been playing the bottom tier of the X-Stats for no discernible reason. I've played What Remains of Edith Finch and Return of the Obra Dinn recently, and I just bought The Talos Principle because it's on sake for 5 bucks

The Talos Principle is actually one of the handful of games I've played (for about two hours). For what it's worth I actually really liked what it was and just haven't picked it up again because of too many distractions. I'd definitely rank it highly.

The other two games are both on my wishlist. Wary of Obra Dinn because I actually didn't care too much for Papers, Please when playing it (though I love the concept and am glad it exists) but hopefully Obra Dinn is different.

lordjers posted...

I thought Celeste was Catherine.

And I only learned what Catherine was when the remaster came out. I really don't pay attention to gaming news...

MrZAP17 posted...

Main bracket final score: 380 (top 178)
Second chance final score: 520 (too low in the rankings to mention, but it's bad)

I was doing okay for most of the contest, consistently in the 50-80 ranking range. I was buoyed by some picks like Ultimate > Odyssey, Dragon Quest > Monster Hunter, and RE2 > Bloodborne. I was at my best during rounds 3 and 4 and managed to barely crack the top 50 for a day, I think after the RE2/Bloodborne battle. I was surprised when I started actually looking at the standing around Division 3 and realizing I was in the top 100. Divisions 2 and 6 were the only ones I picked perfectly.

My main blunders were thinking Skyrim > Witcher 3 and Last of Us > Dark Souls. I also got Division 4 completely wrong, thinking the final would be a bout between Fire Emblem and GTA with the former winning. Also thought Undertale and Uncharted 4 would win their four-packs, but that's not as bad in hindsight.

Wow, you were nearly identical to my case!

• Divisions 2 and 6 being the only ones perfect.
• Picking Ultimate > Odyssey, and RE2 > Bloodborne correctly; though I actually had DQXI > Sekiro
• My biggest blunders being TLOU > Dark Souls, and Skyrim > Witcher (if I had picked the latter right, I would've finished 2nd overall; both picks right would've granted me the site-wide victory)
• Took me a while to sneak myself into the leaderboard.
• I had P4G winning to RDR but losing to GTAV, hence having GTAV in the division finals; but I also had a really hard time picking between Xenoblade and Three Houses; ultimately went with Xenoblade winning its division without any solid reason to and it payed off extremely well.

That post above is basically me except I got P4G right and Xenoblade wrong. Really wish I had just trusted Witcher, but not bad for a bracket I put together haphazardly by just trusting my gut.

381 points. Was on the leaderboard for a good chunk of the context before my Dark Souls to the finals upset special didn't pan out.

I just wish I had been smart enough to listen to my own advice about Witcher 3.

SeabassDebeste posted...

hmm, got it. the only high-leverage upset i got was witcher 3 > skyrim. i remember basically never having heard of witcher 3 and then watching it dominate in the GOTY polls and wondering what the hell i'd missed.

Are you talking about internet-wide GotY polls? Witcher 3 barely beat Fallout 4 in GameFAQs' GotY.

Advokaiser posted...

Wow, you were nearly identical to my case!

* Divisions 2 and 6 being the only ones perfect.
* Picking Ultimate > Odyssey, and RE2 > Bloodborne correctly; though I actually had DQXI > Sekiro
* My biggest blunders being TLOU > Dark Souls, and Skyrim > Witcher (if I had picked the latter right, I would've finished 2nd overall; both picks right would've granted me the site-wide victory)
* Took me a while to sneak myself into the leaderboard.
* I had P4G winning to RDR but losing to GTAV, hence having GTAV in the division finals; but I also had a really hard time picking between Xenoblade and Three Houses; ultimately went with Xenoblade winning its division without any solid reason to and it payed off extremely well.

I think the ghosts of 2015 messed me up a bit. I overestimated Undertale and underestimated ME3 (thinking Starcraft would beat it, lol, but that was also definitely my strategy PC gamer bias even if I don't play it myself), thought Uncharted would do better than it did, and didn't really account for Witcher's strength coming onto the scene in relation to Skyrim. Bear in mind I have played none of the games I have mentioned in this posts, though I'd be open to most all of them. I also underestimated Dark Souls due to my own bias with it not being the kind of game I play at all (yet somehow overestimated TLOU despite also being a game I will never play, but I've heard lots of praise about here, so maybe it's neither here nor there).

I did know better than to pick Starcraft II, but I was surprised to see the misconception of people here that the game was panned by fans. If you take a look around for best strategy games ever, well, the game may not be particularly high in a few of them, specially compared to the original, but the point is that it makes those lists.

Most of the complaints I'd seen regarding its release was more about the thing that the whole SCII story would be told in a trilogy. The actual Wings of Liberty game though has more than enough content, and I'd dare say its gameplay is actually better than that of the original. The missions are very varied, all different from one another having their own gimmick, in a good way, kind of like the DKC2 of RTS in that regard.

Rolycoly posted...

Are you talking about internet-wide GotY polls? Witcher 3 barely beat Fallout 4 in GameFAQs' GotY.

i'm almost certain it was gamefaqs's GOTY poll. i just double-checked and TW3 put up 55%, and i was shocked because 1. i thought fallout was on the same tier as TES and 2. i'd never heard of witcher before

I think Starcraft 2 was more forgotten than hated on GameFAQs. We just cared less and less about each version of Starcraft 2.

MrZAP17 posted...

I think the ghosts of 2015 messed me up a bit. I overestimated Undertale and underestimated ME3 (thinking Starcraft would beat it, lol, but that was also definitely my strategy PC gamer bias even if I don't play it myself), thought Uncharted would do better than it did, and didn't really account for Witcher's strength coming onto the scene in relation to Skyrim. Bear in mind I have played none of the games I have mentioned in this posts, though I'd be open to most all of them. I also underestimated Dark Souls due to my own bias with it not being the kind of game I play at all (yet somehow overestimated TLOU despite also being a game I will never play, but I've heard lots of praise about here, so maybe it's neither here nor there).

Forgot to mention that I also had Undertale winning 2 Rounds (but pretty much we all did), and I was also torn between taking Uncharted 4 and Mario Kart 8 to win their Fourpack. I thought Mario Kart 8 was my upset special but turns out it was the Guru favorite by a huge margin.

I feel like I've seen a number of people say that about their MK8 pick.

Nah, I knew MK8 would be the favorite. We tend to default to Nintendo if it's in any way debatable, and it's not like Uncharted has ever been that great.

Uncharted 4 was my first impression pick, but it was one I quickly 180ed on when I put actual thought into it, while not being bombarded with the entire bracket at once.

I always thought MK8 would be pretty strong, considering would we saw from SMK, and that strength was just hiding behind the SFF.

IF we have a Best 90's Game Contest THEN I want a Best 80's Game Contest then. It is only fair. We don't need to do a Best 70's Game Contest because there aren't enough known games from that era. What you think?

I think if you do it that way you do a 90s contest and a "everything before 90" contest.

We could have best of the 1900s with all pre-2000 games. Even if we did 128 games I doubt much more than 16 pre-1990 games would get in, so why not?

Might as well just do before 2000s in one contest.

Edit: glad we agree!

The 90s are not only the strongest decade in the site, but also the overall golden age of gaming. It deserves a contest of its own, imo. I'd sure as heck love to see actual CRASH BANDICOOT GAMES for once, as well as the entire Soul Blazer trilogy. Has Secret of Mana ever been in a contest before? Super Castlevania IV? Final Fantasy V? Rondo of Blood?

Having a "Game of the 20th Century" sounds like a cool idea, but I doubt it would be much different from what we had in 2004.

Having said that, if we actually did a 1990's contest, I think we can have 70's and 80's crammed into a separate contest (Pong vs. Donkey Kong, who ya got?). The only problem I see is the naming and the timing of each contest. Well... maybe not so much now that I think about it... We've already been a little atemporal in terms of decade contests, and we could work around a name like... Well, the word I thought of was "vintage", although I can't think of a good name. Eh, if Allen asked for ideas about Rivalry Rumble, it should be the least of worries.

Advokaiser posted...

Has Secret of Mana ever been in a contest before?

Both full games contests, in fact!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3457-division-3-round-1-mk2-secretofmana-shiningforce2-sonic-2
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1609-division-8-round-1-chrono-trigger-vs-secret-of-mana

In that case...

Has Seiken Densetsu 3 been in a contest before?

That should be interesting.

LeonhartFour posted...

Both full games contests, in fact!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3457-division-3-round-1-mk2-secretofmana-shiningforce2-sonic-2
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1609-division-8-round-1-chrono-trigger-vs-secret-of-mana

We don’t like to talk about it

LeonhartFour posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3457-division-3-round-1-mk2-secretofmana-shiningforce2-sonic-2

I'd actually be really interested in seeing Secret of Mana vs. Mortal Kombat 2. It's got upset potential written all over it.

Advokaiser posted...

In that case...

Has Seiken Densetsu 3 been in a contest before?

That should be interesting.

You mean Trials of Mana?

Not yet!

Advokaiser posted...

In that case...

Has Seiken Densetsu 3 been in a contest before?

That should be interesting.

I used to rally for that back in the day. It never made it in, though.

Hmm...I don't want to waste the GOTD1+2 X-Stats on the last page of this topic.

So I guess I'll make the new one that will last for the next 6 months!