Lurker > MasterMoltar

Prob won't be able to post write ups tonight so....


2001 is strong but 1997 is stronger

1997 with 57%
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not letting you beat me in the oracle ng
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Round 1

1997 - 80.20%
2007 - 71.60%
2000 - 57.70%
1996 - 78.60%
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Kleenex’s Analysis

Okay, so this is actually the first match I think is in question. Both of these are middle-of-the-pack years, game-wise. I have 2012 in my brackets, but I'm feeling a lot less comfortable with that than I was when I submitted. It's probably some Xenoblade bias.

2007 is probably the most medium collection of mid-carders in the contest. Mario Galaxy, Mass Effect, Bioshock. These are all games that do okay, but never really impress anyone. 2012 has a lot of untested stuff. Mass Effect 3 got Undertale'd (aka was the second strongest game in BGE3 !!). Journey got squashed by FF7. Borderlands 2 lost to EarthBound (yikes, I forgot about this!). Xenoblade barely lost to DKC2.

Huh, you know after writing all that out, I'm not sure why I even took 2012 in the first place.

Damnit.

Kleenex's Prediction: 2007 with 60%



Guest’s Analysis - Ranticoot

After all this time I still don't know what the fuck even is this contest. But I picked what I thought should be an easy match so whatever.

2007's strongest game is Mario Galaxy, which isn't terrible but could be a lot stronger. Bioshock and Portal are decent, the former especially in games contests because that game gets almost unparalleled amounts of respect. Other things like Mass Effect and COD4 were this year. 2007 also had crazy things like the peak of Brawl hype (SONIC!) and Halo 3 hype behind it.

2012's strongest game is a Wii RPG that barely managed to get localized. And uh...well the Wii U came out. And Borderlands 2 was a good game or something.

So, 2007 stomps. Pretty hard too. I expect some very, very, very bad blowouts in this contest - sometimes from matches you wouldn't expect.

Rant's prediction - 2007 with 68%



Crew Consensus: 2007 got this
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Round 1 – 2007 vs. 2012

Moltar’s Analysis

2007 isn’t a monster year, but 2012 isn’t going to look good here. It was a pretty weak year for games with no big titles on GameFAQs (save all your jokes about ME3 being the #2 game here pls)

2007 has a bunch of solid midcarders, and that’s enough to put it over in this match.

Moltar’s Bracket: 2007

Moltar’s Prediction: 2007 - 71%



transience’s Analysis

2012 is my favorite gaming year. It's also the absolute worst gaming year for big, popular games since the modern era began. You can go through a history of GOTY picks and find that they all usually focus on the same kinds of games -- big, sprawling action or adventure games. 2012's biggest games to the public were an episodic adventure game and an indie walking simulator. They're both great games but they're not great GameFAQs games. The #1 game of 2012 might be Xenoblade.

Meanwhile, 07 is like a western version of 01. The entire 7th generation of video games was basically defined here. Bioshock, COD4, Halo 3, Portal, Mass Effect, Galaxy.. the list goes on. 07 got a raw deal because it could have been interesting if it faced, say, 2004 or 2006 or even something older like 1990 or 1992. 2007 will wreck 2012 and then put up a fight against 97 before bowing out clean. In general, I think 2001 is going to go into that potential semifinal with 97 looking better because it has a better chance to flex its muscles. Anyway, that's like two weeks in the future. 07 wins and wins big.

transience's prediction: 2007 with 79.12%



Leonhart’s Analysis

2007 could’ve been interesting in a lot of different places in this bracket. Its strongest Nintendo game (Super Mario Galaxy) is good but not great. It’s got three of the best western franchises you could have in your corner represented here in Mass Effect, Portal, and BioShock, but GameFAQs has been reluctant to assimilate western games into its “mainstream.” It would’ve been fun to debate how it would do against some of the other years from this decade, but its path is set. It’s going to crush 2012, whose GOTY got rolled by EarthBound and Xenoblade couldn’t even beat DKC2. Plus, it feels like SBAllen is rigging the match by shafting Mass Effect 3, our #2 game on the site, from the picture…! Seriously though, 2007 rolls here and then gets rolled by 1997 next round.

Leonhart’s Vote: 2007

Leonhart’s Prediction: 2007 with 72.50%
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Kleenex’s Analysis

There haven't been any really surprising results so far, and that trend definitely continues with this match. There's probably a case to be made for '99 to be the weakest year out of all the '90s. FF8 aside, there's not a while lot of depth, at least as far as games that have any sort of strength on GameFAQs.com. And systems have proven to not matter, though I doubt the Dreamcast would have made any waves regardless.

I will note, however, that much like 2001, I'm not entirely sold on 1997 being a monster. Sure, it has FF7. And SotN + Goldeneye is a decent second string - definitely enough to smash 1999, but I need to see some results that impress me first. Not that the year is in danger of not making the semis or anything, this quarter is weak. I just need to lay the groundwork for my ridiculous 1995 upset in a few weeks.

Kleenex's Prediction: 1997 with 73%

Guest’s Analysis - Dilated Chemist

Cloud: Crawling. In. My. Skiiiiin.
Squall: …
Cloud: These. Wounds. They. Will. Not. Heaaaaaal.
Squall: You’re so emo.
Cloud: At least I’m alive.
Squall: Huh?
Barrett: GOT ‘EM!
Squall: ...I’m so confused.
Cloud: I know how that feels.
Aeris: lol dead.


1997 with 83.77%



Crew Consensus: Final Fantasy 1997
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Round 1 – 1997 vs. 1999

Moltar’s Analysis

So 1997 looks to be the pretty obvious winner here, considering it’s got a headliner like FF7 and back-up like Goldeneye and SotN. FF8 immediately gets shut down, and nothing else from 1999 stands up to the tier 2 1997 games.

aka business as usual here, the blowouts continue

Moltar’s Bracket: 1997

Moltar’s Prediction: 1997 - 81%



transience’s Analysis

Tonight's matches are pretty whatever. 1997 trumps 1999 in the most significant way -- FF7 vs. FF8 -- and the other games in 1999 are pretty awful strengthwise compared to the years that surround it. It's not the worst year on the books but when you wreck its biggest strength, it's basically fodder. 97, on the other hand, is in the conversation for the finals. There's not much to say here, just guessing at a percentage.

Well, actually, I guess the big thing to take away here is trying to measure 97 up vs. 2001. It's a hard comparison. Both have one big game and a bunch of junk and both have the absolute worst opponent they could get. 97 probably gets around 80% but even if it gets 70 or 90, I don't feel comfortable saying a whole lot. There just isn't anything clear to read about those matches.

transience's prediction: 1997 with 83.35%



Leonhart’s Analysis

1999 got a raw deal here. It has two strong games to its credit. However, FFVIII’s strength is negated and overwhelmed by facing off against 1997, which has FFVII. Then Super Smash Bros. isn’t even included in 1999’s list of notable games, which will be a big problem because it’s been snubbed from the match pic, too. 1999 has a bunch of cult classics to its credit, but that won’t matter much against Square’s #1 or #2 game and a bunch of popular N64 games, as well as SOTN. This could get really ugly, but I’m voting 1999 to protest the travesty of Squall having to face Cloud yet again. Ugh.

Leonhart’s Vote: 1999

Leonhart’s Prediction: 1997 with 76.21%
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