Board 8 > Absolute Best Game Contest: Bracket and Discussion [ABGC]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Oh, and I'll probably be shortening the title to 'Absolute Best' when actually making matches, at least in Round 1. Gotta have room for the game titles.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=406378&tclass=Absolute%20Best%20Game%20Contest

Rules and topic template:
1. In this contest, you only vote for a game if you’ve played both games in its’ match. Both games. This is important.
2. You have to have played them yourself, physically. Reading a Let’s Play is not playing. Watching your friend or youtube is not playing. Disliking a genre is not playing. Playing the prequel/sequel is not playing. You’re the judge of how long you need to play a game before it’s fair to vote, but you probably shouldn’t be voting for/against a 40-hour RPG if you’ve played the first 5 minutes.
3. All ports & remakes are grouped together. You can vote for RBY if you’ve only played FireRed.
4. Please vote honestly. There are plenty of contests where you can vote any way you want. The entire purpose of this contest is ruined if people don’t honor the honor system.
5. One vote per person. Rallying is allowed if the people rallied also vote fairly and by the rules. Whichever game has more votes from people who have played both games (i.e. Choice A vs. Choice B) moves on. Matches last 24 hours.

A. I’ve played both. Vote: Game A
B. I’ve played both. Vote: Game B
C. I haven’t played Game A.
D. I haven’t played Game B.
E. I haven’t played either one.

Matches start later today.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

up

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Why are there so many round 1 matches that look like they should be round 3 matches.

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Chrono1219

Sounds fun. Like this idea.

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Certified Wigs Alt: Fastest Thing Alive
Jaleel White is a king

Is there any weighting at all to the C/D votes? Say for a tiebreaker?

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Certified Wigs Alt: Fastest Thing Alive
Jaleel White is a king

Super Mario Bros. 3
Mother 3

Gawd damnit.

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Chrono1219 posted...
Why are there so many round 1 matches that look like they should be round 3 matches.

Because we technically don't know the strength of the games in this contest, most of it was randomized!


HookedOnSonics posted...
Is there any weighting at all to the C/D votes? Say for a tiebreaker?

Tiebreakers will probably just be an hour-long extra match like they often are.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Wow, I'm only going to be able to vote in like 5 of the first round matches.

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~~~~Yay~~~~

Matches I can vote in (R1):

MGS3/FFT
Majora's Mask/RBY
Nier/Modern Warfare
Super Mario 64/ZOE2
Shadow Hearts: Covenant/FFVII
Half-Life 2/FFXII
FFX/Star Wars: KOTOR
Radiant Historia/Super Mario Galaxy
Civ IV/GTA: SA
Portal/Okami
S3&K/Planescape: Torment
Valkyria Chronicles/DKC2

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Praise the Black Turtle, Game of the Decade Guru Champ.
(Well, I never promised creativity, did I?!)

I mean use some common sense though. I mean, FFT and MGS3 in round 1? Portal versus Okami? Majora's Mask Versus Pokemon RbY?

Those are heavy weight bouts.

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Chrono1219

I left those as-is because, as you've seen, the amount of matches that people will actually be able to vote A or B R1 is going to be somewhat limited.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Quick thing: Icehawk pointed out to me that making the C/D votes matter for tiebreakers would 1. Result in better matches down the line 2. Give people an excuse to show up every day, so I'll probably make that count for the tiebreaker if (when) it comes to that.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

tagging this. Goddamn it I need to get home already.

Ha, some of these 1st round match-ups are absolutely brutal.

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"Eet's game time..."

I like how I've got some people telling me some of the R1 matches are too high-profile and other people telling me they can't vote in anything.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

so...um...yeah. There's *ONE* freaking match in the entire first round I can vote on.

Advance vote for Oblivion. I'll see you in 64 days.



Edit:

oh, and if anyone is wondering, I have played...
LoZ, SoM, Bioshock, Portal 2, neither, neither, FFT, DQ8
SMW, HoMM3, RBY, CoD4, Mario 64, neither, Starcraft, FF7
SD3, neither, neither, neither, SSBM, PD, FF9, neither
FF12, neither, neither, KH, neither, FFX, neither, PvZ
Monkey Island, neither x5, OB64, RE1
Civ4, FF8, neither, Portal, wait...omg, I have played both Yoshi's Island and Soul Calibur..., neither, SMB3, neither
LoZ:LA, neither x5, OOT, FF6
neither x2, both, Diablo 2, Super Metroid, neither, neither, Timesplitters 2

There's a lot of "not played"s that I have exposure to, but can't in honesty claim I've played.

Add an advance vote for Soul Calibur 2 to go with Oblivion.

Both are true, KP. It just so happens that I've never personally, legitimately *played* a few really high-profile games, like MGS3, SMG2, Half-Life 2, KotOR, etc. I feel like I know each of those games well enough from other exposure that I would feel well-enough equipped to vote fairly on the matter, but I'm gonna follow the rules.

Well from your list, it looks like you've played 1/4 of the bracket, which is fine. I've played around 3/4, so I just don't really have that problem. Either way, the contest isn't set up for everyone to participate on every day. It'd be nice if they did, and I'm hoping they'll come to support their game for a possible tiebreaker, but yeah. Fans showing up on days when they're needed is what's important. It's going to result in some weird-ass results and wonky votals, but I'd rather have that then another traditional contest.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Matches I can vote on this round.

SSBM vs. Tales of Vesperia
Portal vs. Okami (seriously wtf)
Super Mario World 2 vs. SoulCalibur II


aaaand... that's it.

And these are all hard matches. =/

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Black Turtle is so pringles

Quick thing: Icehawk pointed out to me that making the C/D votes matter for tiebreakers would 1. Result in better matches down the line 2. Give people an excuse to show up every day, so I'll probably make that count for the tiebreaker if (when) it comes to that.

I can see the logic behind this, but I'm not sure it's the most accurate metric. Well, I suppose it depends on how you count it, but I'm assuming the more played game would "win." However, having played a game doesn't necessarily translate to thinking it's better or supporting it. You could, hypothetically, try to account for this by adding even more options, but that's probably just being needlessly complex. Of course, arguably thinking about this issue to even this level is needlessly complex itself.

I'd say it would lead to more "popular" (in a vote count sense) matches down the line, in the strictest sense that it would favor the more popular games, so you'd have higher chances of higher-profile games moving on. Whether or not this qualifies as "better" matches, I'm not sure, at least within the objective of the contest. But again, this may just be a case of thinking way too hard about it. After all, we don't know how many ties will even occur, it could be a virtual non-issue.

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
GotD (219/384) Melee v FFX

Cool time to make a favs bracket

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Personally I recommend you do two matches a day afor AT LEAST 2 rounds

Dont want you getting too insane over running such a long contest

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KamikazePotato posted...
Well from your list, it looks like you've played 1/4 of the bracket, which is fine. .

I blame MMO's. Too many of these games are post-2000. I've largely been too preoccupied to try many other games. I'm like the guy who goes to a buffet and gets a big plate with only two things on it because I was in the mood for them. I know all about the other foods, often like them...I just don't know what they taste like at this particular restaurant.

Oh well. Whatever.

xp1337 posted...
stuff

Yeah there's some problems with it but this contest is one big experiment to begin with so I might as well try it, and I think the positives outweigh the negatives.


SuperAngelo128 posted...
Personally I recommend you do two matches a day afor AT LEAST 2 rounds

Dont want you getting too insane over running such a long contest

I was thinking about that, and I'll probably do this. Looking at the bracket some Round 2 matches aren't going to be 'high-profile' enough to stand on their own. A lot of Round 3, too. Round 3 and onwards is 1 v 1 though. If you've won 2 matches, you get your own match even if you scraped by with single-digit votes every time.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Previously, on ABGC Z:

The Legend of Zelda vs. Umineko no Naku Koro ni
[3] A. I’ve played both. Vote: The Legend of Zelda
[24] B. I’ve played both. Vote: Umineko no Naku Koro ni
[2] C. I haven’t played The Legend of Zelda.
[29] D. I haven’t played Umineko no Naku Koro ni.
[3] E. I haven’t played either one.

Jak II vs. Secret of Mana
[10] A. I’ve played both. Vote: Jak II
[5] B. I’ve played both. Vote: Secret of Mana
[21] C. I haven’t played Jak II.
[9] D. I haven’t played Secret of Mana.
[16] E. I haven’t played either one.

Total Votes: 61

First match went about as I expected. Even if Umineko didn't have a rabid fanbase, most people just don't care about the original LoZ. The second match was a lot more interesting and showed how weird this contest is going to be. More than double the voters had only played SoM as opposed to Jak II. If this had been a traditional contest, SoM probably wins.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I got 12 matches in Round 1.

That's far more than I was expecting.

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I mean DAMN.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Game 15 Details
Starcraft

I hate you. Oh well, at least I can vote in this one. >_>

Interesting idea for a contest, but I fear it'll turn away a lot of people when their favorite games start losing to cult hits that only three people have played. Or that people will start lying.

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Fight like dragons, have no fear, swords are made of STEEEEEEEEL~

Both of those are strong possibilities, but I'd like to think that people will laugh off weird results and move on. This isn't a super serious contest or anything. If some random game no one has played starts making deep run, hey, why not?

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Final Fantasy X
VS
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

This one

How do I vote? >.<

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Chrono1219

The format does encourage hardcore fandoms.

I think Umineko wins because it's fans will rabidly vote for it and no-one else votes because it's Umineko and who outside of it's weird little fanclub has ever played it?

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All opinions couched in humour.

Yeah, Zelda 1 should have won that, but oh well! Frightening idea that Umineko might win based on what fanbase it does have voting for it every time.

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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

I just want everyone to know that anything that happens in this contest is LMS's fault.

Blame him.

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Support Seifer Almasy (Final Fantasy VIII) for Character Battle IX!
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but what does this mean for resident evil 4 compared to mario 64

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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

At this point I don't see Umineko losing as long as everyone plays by the rules. The people who haven't played aren't likely to because they are turned off by the general lack of gameplay, and the people who have aren't likely to vote anything else over it. Unless people start lying about playing it, it's pretty much got this contest locked up.

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"Principally I hate and detest the animal called man, although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas and so forth" - Jonathan Swift
BT with the victory!

well i don't know about anyone else but there's quite a lot i'd vote over umineko

From: HeroicGammaRay | #036
well i don't know about anyone else but there's quite a lot i'd vote over umineko

same here, it's not my problem if the original Zelda sucks

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(1)Jesus Christ (Bible) - 14 (16)GANON1025 (Board 8-) - 10 Never forget.

If my nomination for Chibi Robo went through, as the only person on the board to have played it, you bet it'd be going all the way, just for the funnies.

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Would be deserved though.

My BOLD PREDIX is that Umineko doesn't make it out of its division, for various reasons.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

From: KamikazePotato | #039
My BOLD PREDIX is that Umineko doesn't make it out of its division, for various reasons.

SFF'd by f/sn

todbot1 posted...
Super Mario Bros. 3
Mother 3

Gawd damnit.

this so much

I think M3 might actually have the edge there. The thing about M3 is that it's very similar to Umineko in that the people who bothered to seek it out are going to be very devoted.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

People need to play more games

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Matches i can vote in:


Zelda umineko
Faten nights
Sotn imperishable
Mgs3 fft
Major rby
Persona 4 Starcraft
Melee vespy
Sulk den 2 ff9
Half life 2 ff12
Dmc3 ssf4
FFx kotor
Mgs plants
Wind waker flower
Vvvvvv dragon quarter
At2 disgaea
T and t symphonia
Silent hill 2 ff8
Portal okami
Yoshi island soul caliber 2
Ever17 sulk den 5
Uncharted 2 mario party 2
Kh2 abyss
Sharin shining force
Valkyria dkc2
Mgs2 so2

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Bioshock vs. Fire Emblem
[19] A. I’ve played both. Vote: Bioshock
[11] B. I’ve played both. Vote: Fire Emblem
[10] C. I haven’t played Bioshock.
[6] D. I haven’t played Fire Emblem.
[9] E. I haven’t played either one.
Total Votes: 55

Despite being a little less played, Bioshock ran away with this from the start and never looked back. Pretty convincing victory for it against a game from a popular series.

Grandia II vs. Portal 2
[1] A. I’ve played both. Vote: Grandia II
[12] B. I’ve played both. Vote: Portal 2
[16] C. I haven’t played Grandia II.
[7] D. I haven’t played Portal 2.
[20] E. I haven’t played either one.
Total Votes: 56

Grandia II shows that being obscure doesn't matter if no one cares about you.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Fate/stay night vs. NIGHTS into Dreams
[3] A. I’ve played both. Vote: Fate/stay night
[2] B. I’ve played both. Vote: NIGHTS into Dreams
[6] C. I haven’t played Fate/stay night.
[17] D. I haven’t played NIGHTS into Dream.
[25] E. I haven’t played/don't like either one.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night vs. Touhou: Imperishable Night
[7] A. I’ve played both. Vote: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
[6] B. I’ve played both. Vote: Touhou: Imperishable Night
[2] C. I haven’t played Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
[26] D. I haven’t played Touhou: Imperishable Night.
[12] E. I haven’t played/don't like either one.

Total Votes: 53.

NIGHTS and Imperishable Night tried to make use of their limited playerbase to squeak by two far more-played games, but both just fell short.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Fate/Stay Night to win the contest

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Metal Gear Solid 3 vs. Final Fantasy Tactics
[19] A. I’ve played both. Vote: Metal Gear Solid 3
[17] B. I’ve played both. Vote: Final Fantasy Tactics
[11] C. I haven’t played Metal Gear Solid 3.
[4] D. I haven’t played Final Fantasy Tactics.
[10] E. I haven’t played/don't like either one.

Just Cause 2 vs. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
[3] A. I’ve played both. Vote: Just Cause 2
[5] B. I’ve played both. Vote: Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
[23] C. I haven’t played Just Cause 2.
[3] D. I haven’t played Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King.
[27] E. I haven’t played/don't like either one.

Total Votes: 61

Both close matches, but MGS3 edges past, and another game fails to replicate Jak II's result.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Super Mario World vs. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
[8] A. I’ve played both. Vote: Super Mario World
[19] B. I’ve played both. Vote: Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
[0] C. I haven’t played Super Mario World.
[31] D. I haven’t played Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals.
[1] E. I haven’t played/don't like either one.

Heroes of Might & Magic III Complete vs. Shadow of the Colossus
[7] A. I’ve played both. Vote: Heroes of Might & Magic III Complete
[0] B. I’ve played both. Vote: Shadow of the Colossus
[22] C. I haven’t played Heroes of Might & Magic III Complete.
[5] D. I haven’t played Shadow of the Colossus.
[25] E. I haven’t played/don't like either one.

Total Votes: 59

Oh, here we go. First day with a major upset, and we've got two of them. Both SMW and SotC never had control of either match - in fact, the 1 person who voted for SotC initially switched his vote later. Just goes to show you that in this contest, anything goes.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Heroes of Might & Magic III shuts out Shadow of the Colossus.

Literally the best contest ever.

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