Vote for who you thought drafted the best list of games.

Emperor
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Cuphead
The Last Of Us
Shadow of the Colossus
Overwatch
Elden Ring
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Versus

X-Zero
WWF No Mercy
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Mass Effect 2
Persona 5
Halo
Street Fighter 2
Fallout New Vegas

X-Zero's list is not bad, either hit or miss but the hits are pretty damn good admittedly. Emperor did well for himself, regardless if he played these games or not, very strong group right here. 

Mar 17, 2022 0:32:09 GMT Lony said:

Vote for who you thought drafted the best list of games.

Emperor
Final Fantasy 7 Remake 8/10
Cuphead 9.5/10
The Last Of Us 9.5/10
Shadow of the Colossus 8.25/10(Have yet to play the remake, have it in my backlog)
Overwatch 8.5/10
Elden Ring 9.25/10(So far)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 9.25/10
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt NA

Versus

X-Zero
WWF No Mercy 7.75/10
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim NA
Batman: Arkham Asylum 9.5/10
Mass Effect 2 NA
Persona 5 9.5/10
Halo NA
Street Fighter 2 8.25/10
Fallout New Vegas NA

This was extremely tight.

I like Emperor's variety of games more, but I feel like he's gone off too early on a couple of his picks in Elden Ring and FF7 Remake. Overwatch is also in a pretty bad state right now and while it can theoretically be a fun game, it's not as strong as it once was and comes off like a fad. I can respect living life on the wild side and trying to spice what could have been a boring draft up but unfortunately the lists are just too strong to go against an established line-up.

The one thing with the meta of this list is that I think post-2005 is a real sweet spot unless you're drafting a staple like Mario or DKC. I'm really surprised nobody went after Crash, that was my fallback option if somebody took Sonic 2.

Mar 17, 2022 17:43:31 GMT Big Pete said:

I like Emperor's variety of games more, but I feel like he's gone off too early on a couple of his picks in Elden Ring and FF7 Remake. Overwatch is also in a pretty bad state right now and while it can theoretically be a fun game, it's not as strong as it once was and comes off like a fad. I can respect living life on the wild side and trying to spice what could have been a boring draft up but unfortunately the lists are just too strong to go against an established line-up.

Going for the recency bias votes. Plus Final Fantasy 7 Remake is genuinely an amazing game, one of the best entries in the Final Fantasy series for sure.

I've never played Overwatch but it seems to be a huge multiplayer game so why not? Didn't know it was in a pretty bad state, whatever that means.

Honestly If I wasn't trying to beat you I think I favor your list the most. I think your list is tied for the most stuff I played and Cuphead and Elden Ring I want to play and probably will eventually play. And the only thing I have not desire to play was Overwatch and you didn't play that either.

You have Arkham Asylum, which is an amazing game. I've actually played around 3-4 hours of Persona 5 and it is fantastic, just like Persona 3 and 4 which I have completed. No Mercy and Street Fighter 2 are obvious classics. The remaining four games don't really interest me.

Emperor wins 4-3 but it's not as close as the score shows. Last of Us and Overwatch are two of my all-time faves and games I still play regulary to this day (especially Overwatch...play it almost daily).

Mar 17, 2022 18:48:48 GMT Emperor said:

Mar 17, 2022 17:43:31 GMT Big Pete said:

I like Emperor's variety of games more, but I feel like he's gone off too early on a couple of his picks in Elden Ring and FF7 Remake. Overwatch is also in a pretty bad state right now and while it can theoretically be a fun game, it's not as strong as it once was and comes off like a fad. I can respect living life on the wild side and trying to spice what could have been a boring draft up but unfortunately the lists are just too strong to go against an established line-up.

Going for the recency bias votes. Plus Final Fantasy 7 Remake is genuinely an amazing game, one of the best entries in the Final Fantasy series for sure.

I've never played Overwatch but it seems to be a huge multiplayer game so why not? Didn't know it was in a pretty bad state, whatever that means.

Overwatch is a game that's constantly being updated and tweaked to keep the competitive scene interesting. However updates have stalled for two years now since they're working on Overwatch 2 and they're trying to hoard updates so people will actually buy it. Among those updates is the decision to take it from 6v6 to 5v5 since at the top end of play the addition of a second tank just drags out fights and renders too many of the 32 heroes obsolete.

My personal issue with the game is the lack of match-making options. When I play TF2, I typically play payload maps whereas on OW I'm constantly being forced into payload, capture points, king of the hill etc. and it's a nightmare for newcomers. Despite spending 100s of hours on the game, I'm still clueless about certain scenarios because I don't consistently get to work over those scenarios.

With TF2, even at a casual level it can be an enjoyable game whereas everyone has to carry their weight in OW and if you have one selfish player it can screw you over. Also it doesn't matter how well you technically play, if the opponents press Q at the right time, it can decide matches.

Essentially OW has varied in reputation over the years, however right now the game has a reputation for being a failed franchise that tried too hard to be a competitive game and lost a lot of it's casual players to Fortnite and other character based shooters like Apex Legends.

Originally I did compliment your recency bias strategy and I still think it's smart but in the interest of fairness I couldn't be swayed on it. A lot of X-Zero's picks have stood the test of time whereas the jury is still out on those games. I haven't played FF7: R but from what I've heard while it's a great game it's really slow in sections since they had to pad things out. Also since they only told a third of the story it doesn't feel like a complete experience. It reminds me of the trouble those young adult movies ran into critically when they decided to divide the stories, while it would make for a better overall experience you really couldn't judge those movies on their own merit.

Emperor
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Cuphead
The Last Of Us
Shadow of the Colossus
Overwatch
Elden Ring
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Versus

X-Zero
WWF No Mercy
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Mass Effect 2
Persona 5
Halo
Street Fighter 2
Fallout New Vegas

X-zero is a strong contender with SF2, Halo and No Mercy but I’ve played more on emperor’s list. Need to give the ME games ago if they aren’t cutscene heavy

SOTC, FF7: R and MGS 3 are amazing, Cuphead is probably the hardest game I’ve ever played so I enjoy it even though I’ll probably never finish it.

I want to vote for X-Zero based on Skyrim alone, but Emperor has The Last Of Us, Overwatch, Elden Ring, The Witcher 3… I AM SO SORRY SKYRIM! I STILL LOVE YOU MY DRAGONBORN BABY.

Mar 18, 2022 2:18:41 GMT Big Pete said:

Originally I did compliment your recency bias strategy and I still think it's smart but in the interest of fairness I couldn't be swayed on it. A lot of X-Zero's picks have stood the test of time whereas the jury is still out on those games. I haven't played FF7: R but from what I've heard while it's a great game it's really slow in sections since they had to pad things out. Also since they only told a third of the story it doesn't feel like a complete experience. It reminds me of the trouble those young adult movies ran into critically when they decided to divide the stories, while it would make for a better overall experience you really couldn't judge those movies on their own merit.

Yes, there is some downtime, but I believe the game strikes the right balance between combat heavy levels, cutscenes, and sidequest areas. To me it does feel like a complete experience. They've expanded the mythos tremendously. The introduction of Whispers, and the greater presence of Sephiroth, does make it feel like a complete game in its own right, without taking away the intrigue of what is to come.

Mar 18, 2022 17:00:25 GMT Emperor said:

Mar 18, 2022 2:18:41 GMT Big Pete said:

Originally I did compliment your recency bias strategy and I still think it's smart but in the interest of fairness I couldn't be swayed on it. A lot of X-Zero's picks have stood the test of time whereas the jury is still out on those games. I haven't played FF7: R but from what I've heard while it's a great game it's really slow in sections since they had to pad things out. Also since they only told a third of the story it doesn't feel like a complete experience. It reminds me of the trouble those young adult movies ran into critically when they decided to divide the stories, while it would make for a better overall experience you really couldn't judge those movies on their own merit.

Yes, there is some downtime, but I believe the game strikes the right balance between combat heavy levels, cutscenes, and sidequest areas. To me it does feel like a complete experience. They've expanded the mythos tremendously. The introduction of Whispers, and the greater presence of Sephiroth, does make it feel like a complete game in its own right, without taking away the intrigue of what is to come.

It would be interesting to see what the reception would be if it wasn't a remake and if fans would be even more enthralled as to what's to come or if they're patient because they know things open up once the gang leaves Midgar. Like I said I can really go on rep and a lot of changes (I think that's the whispers, where they're messing with the metaverse) were pretty divisive amongst critics.

If it wasn't a remake I imagine they wouldn't have constructed the game that way. The designers had many difficult decisions.
- How to appease to players new to the FF7 universe without boring FF7 veterans.
- Make it a straight remake or add some new content?
- If adding new content, they have to be really think it through and iron out all the details because it will be discussed over the internet and the thousands of diehard fans will spot continuity flaws immediately.
- How to expand Midgar, the first chapter of the original game, to a full standalone game.
- How to modernise the combat and graphics to appeal to a newer audience.

I won't argue that FF7R is flawless, but given all of these difficult decisions, I think they did a tremendous job. And this is coming from a guy who generally dislikes time travel/alternate universes, especially if they're thrown in there for the sake of it. But to me this particular plot has been really well thought out, opens a lot of interesting questions without being too mindfucky or convoluted.

Padding out Midgar with all these new side characters, missions, and sidequests really helps bring the city to life in a way that simply wasn't possible in the original game. The voice acting is phenomenal, the personalities of all the characters are really fleshed out. Aerith in particular is outstanding, I can't say I cared for her too much in the original, but she is of crucial importance to the story and I'm glad this was captured, along with her unrelenting likeability. She's also been made very useful in combat.

The only real qualm I have is that I feel they blew their load on Sephiroth too early, but I can understand why they did it. Sephiroth barely appears in Midgar in the original, and the series is driven by Cloud vs Sephiroth, he is as iconic as Cloud, so they had to include him somehow. Plus this removes the need for the heavy exposition section in Kalm, or at least the need for it to be so long.