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Results[]

Round FourPoll8034
Friday, May 8, 2020

Ulti's Analysis[]

Poll 8034
Division Division 8
Match # 120
Match Date Friday, May 08, 2020
Oracle
Expectations
Skyrim - 54.16%
49 for - 3 against
GameFAQs
Prediction
Skyrim - 53.66%
User
Votes
Skyrim - 5338
Pokémon HeartGold / SoulSilver - 3685
Anonymous
Votes
Skyrim - 4635
Pokémon HeartGold / SoulSilver - 2914

This writeup will seem like a short letdown after the last one, but the last match's writeup took me three days to do. Give me a break :p

There were a few matches in this contest, namely this one, Witcher 3 vs Mario Galaxy 2, and Skyrim vs Mario Kart 8, where a western titan went up against a Nintendo game of decent strength, but not titanic strength. These matches played out in exactly the same way -- a small struggle early where it looked like Nintendo might make it interesting, followed by the western titan flexing some muscle and winning the match in 60-40 fashion.

A lot of hype was given to Pokemon in the leadup to this match, because Skyrim looked prime to be picked off in an upset, and Pokemon is a master at winning matches like that. Things were interesting when the poll started, but unfortunately for Pokemon, that's all she wrote. Even with Skyrim looking slightly weaker this contest than in 2015, it was still more than strong enough to get rid of Pokemon. I have no problem with the first three Pokemon generations, but given how the fans of this game acted against Nier Automata I was happy to be rid of them one round after we got rid of the Nier ass brigade.

This would close out divisional play, and from here it was 7 main contest matches plus a single bonus poll. I'd love to build suspense up here as if we were wondering things live, but there was no way Breath of the Wild wasn't winning this thing. Still, journey not destination and such. This match also booted out the last of the three remake games, which was frankly nice to see. Resident Evil 2 getting in I can accept, but not Persona 4 Golden or Pokemon HGSS. Regardless of how strong the games were and how well they performed, it was unfair for them to get in. It was nice to see them not winning divisions over more deserving games.

On to the final rounds!

Ctes's Analysis[]

Skyrim had had a rough contest up until this point with everyone targeting it for looking bad. Almost no one thought it would actually lose today, but it was underestimated by quite a bit, almost 6% by oracles. This would be Skyrim’s big redemption match. Beating Witcher 3 was out of the question a long time ago, but that didn’t mean Skyrim had to be significantly worse. After trying to defend Skyrim for a couple of rounds it was such a relief to see. This wasn’t even a fanboy thing, I have never played Skyrim and I love Pokemon HGSS, but being seemingly right is always nice and it sure seemed like it now. Although Skyrim needed to beat Dark Souls to truly confirm how legit it still is, along with how Journey, Mario Kart 8 and Uncharted 4 all being better than most people gave them credit for.

The opening moments were of course hilarious as always. HGSS took the lead instantly and kept it for a bit. Then they were tied for a while, but Skyrim took it. For a little while, it looked to be somewhat close despite not being in doubt, but then Skyrim took off and never looked back, rising in percentage over the whole course of the day. We love Pokemon. We do not love Bethesda.

I’m sure Skyrim wouldn’t be as big a favorite against Dark Souls if they met before Skyrim got to show off here, but it would actually end up being one after all. You had to be pretty stubborn to still insist Mario Kart 8 couldn’t be good at this point. Still, the match was hyped and everyone expected the guru contest to be decided with that match as the final three matches all seemed obvious. It’s part of the reason why it’s such a shame that only those three are up alone. The quarter finals are very often more interesting than the semi-finals.

At the end of the contest, HeartGold and SoulSilver probably didn’t act as proxies for Gold and Silver. At least they seem significantly weaker. Skyrim is projected to beat GSC in 2015, but not by much. 51.79% to be exact. Everyone agrees that Skyrim is weaker now. That means no matter how you adjust things, the remakes are a good bit below. It’s not too surprising if you know the fanbase. They treat remakes as new entries and Pokemon fans consider these games part of generation 4 and not generation 2. They’re much more loved than the original fanbase among hardcore fans, but our site will not care about anything past generation 2 as much as the first two. I’m sure no one would have expected FireRed and LeafGreen to be as good as RBY if they had been in the first Game of the Decade. RBY looked so good in 2009 that it would have probably beat everything in the first Game of the Decade, and I’m sure no one would pick FireRed and LeafGreen to do that. In this way, Pokemon is quite different from the other remakes in the contest.

I don’t mind them being in, but they probably should not have been. I don’t think it’s as clear a case as Persona 4 Golden. While it’s the same story line, it also comes with all the general changes they made fom gen 2 to gen 4, which were a lot. I also don’t mind them getting this far because they were the only Pokemon representation in the bracket. They represent how good Pokemon was at the beginning of this generation.

It’s a huge shame that the more casual approach recent Pokemon games have had come at the expense of the quality that fans loved from Platinum to Black 2 and White 2. Pokemon is definitely a victim of its own popularity. Quantity matters more these days. It’s more important for them to spit out new entries constantly than to give us games that feel polished and good.

I’m sure that only one Pokemon game appearing is a decision made to have a more diverse bracket. It’s the absolute biggest confirmation that Allen wanted variety regardless of whether or not a series cap at exactly two games was put in place. The Pokemon fans were split sure, and it hurt nominations sure, but no way one of them then took a #3 seed while the others saw less nominations than Baba is You and Subnautica (no disrespect to either). There’s just no way.

For some random trivia, HGSS being the one to get the most nominations and therefore be chosen to represent the series, means that Gold and Silver and their remakes have appeared in every single game contest to date. If you count HGSS as the same game, it’s the only game to accomplish this because two of our five contests have been Game of the Decades. It sure lucked out being the representant both now and in 2004 where it was the only Pokemon game in the bracket.

The way things are going now, Pokemon won’t be worth much in a decade. The new games anyway. Hopefully they find some middle ground, but as long as we all buy whatever they put out, and I shamefully will, then they can care less and less about polishing their games.

Safer777's Analysis[]

So this match. Last chance for Skyrim to see if it is truly legit. Because it is legit, but how much? Pokemon HG/SS did really well to reach this far which I didn't really expected to tell the truth. So people had Skyrim winning with around 55. And it scored 60. So yeah. I don't know.

So for the match. I am not sure. Man things are crazy. Seriously. This results shows that Skyrim is super legit strangely enough. Yeah as Skyrim goes it becomes more legit? I don't know what is happening to tell the truth. Maybe it was just unlucky with all the previous results. Or something else? Nobody can figure it out, at least not yet. Also this prediction percentage was the 2nd highest of this round. Only 3 games had above 50 in this round, these are BOTW, Witcher 3, Skyrim. And it seems Skyrim has higher prediction that Witcher 3 which it does make sense, since before the contest it was the favorite to reach the final round. 

So end of Round 4. In this round all remakes lost so that is fine. Hey they all reached the division finals which is amazing. Also out of 7 1 Seeds that reached the division finals 7 of them won! Yeah as I said above perfect seeding.

Tsunami's Analysis[]

And with this, all three of the remakes of older games were eliminated shy of the Elite Eight--but all three had only just been eliminated this round. Given this board's penchant for things that are old, is it any wonder that they all made the Sweet 16? (I mean, sure, a bunch of other games in the bracket had updated remakes, but their originals were also in this decade--like Mario Kart 8 (Ultra) and Xenoblade Chronicles--or was XBC a straight-up port? I don't even know.) But that said, all were worthy candidates. The original GSC pulled 45% on Melee before Melee started rallying to make it a 60-40 match; Persona 4 did better on Twilight Princess in 2015 than it did in its third-round exit to RE4 in 2010, and Resident Evil 2 straight-up won the GotY polls for 2019. Speaking of which, if you count these remakes as being ways of "cheating" and getting older games into this contest, then Pokémon GSC is the only game to have been in all five Games Contests. (It's one of 11 games that had been in all three BGEs and the first GotD; obviously there are far more that have been in all three BGEs.) Skyrim's performance here was solid, nearly breaking 60% and outperforming Dark Souls against what was presumed, in the wake of the disastrous TLoU2 leaks, to be a stronger game. But it was still a remake and therefore something that "didn't belong in this contest", and a handheld game to boot, so there would be doubters.

But let's be real here--saying GSC and HGSS are the same game is like saying that Ultimate is just Smash 4 with an expanded roster. Same goes for FRLG and ORAS to the games they're remakes of, though maybe not so much for any future remakes because honestly, the changes in each generation past the fourth have largely been minor rebalancing issues and weird gimmicks. I'm not saying I dislike the changes, though I'll admit I'm none too happy with LGPE and SwSh "GO-ifying" the series, but stuff like Triple Battles, Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, and Gigantamax is not the same as Gen 2 splitting the Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense and introducing held items, Gen 3 introducing Abilities, or Gen 4 making it so that each individual move was designated either Physical or Special instead of it being determined by the move's type. Those were all very big changes, and as long as they don't try to use a Dragon-type move on a Pokémon that used to not be Fairy-type, I'd imagine that someone familiar with Gen 4 battling would adapt relatively quickly to later generations compared with someone only familiar with Gen 1--or for that matter, that same person trying to go back to Gen 1.

External Links[]

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Game of the Decade 2 Matches

Round One
LoZ:BotW > Outer Worlds
Halo:Reach > Life is Strange
FFXV > Edith Finch
HK > Berseria
MH:W > BD:FF
Sekiro > Ni no Kuni
Bastion > TWD
DQXI > Trails SC
ME2 > RE7
Fallout 4 > VVVVVV
Borderlands 2 > Bloodstained
Horizon > Fortnite
RE2 > Danganronpa 2
DOOM > INSIDE
FE:A > DE:HR
Bloodborne > CoD:BO
SSBU > Tekken 7
LoZ:LBW > Bayonetta
Spider-Man > Dead Space 2
Minecraft > Dota 2
Octopath > Undertale
SK > Dragon's Dogma
DMC5 > DKC:TF
SMO > MK11
GTAV > Baba Is You
Cuphead > XCOM 2
P4G > FTL
RDR > Ghost Trick
Xenoblade > Splatoon 2
Overwatch > Death Stranding
Ori > DA:I
FE:TH > South Park

Witcher 3 > AC:O
ME3 > Starcraft II
Stardew > Destiny
SMG2 > Obra Dinn
New Vegas > Stanley Parable
Dark Souls III > Dishonored
Nioh > Isaac: Rebirth
God of War > Talos
Persona 5 > Heavy Rain
ACIV > Civilization V
Sonic Mania > Ys VIII
SMB > Slay the Spire
Portal 2 > Tomb Raider
KHIII > Disco Elysium
New Leaf > SFV
RDR2 > Dying Light
Dark Souls > Hotline
Rocket League > DBFZ
Yakuza 0 > The Witness
MGSV > Dead Cells
Arkham City > Xenoblade 2
BioShock Infinite > Terraria
Diablo III > VLR
TLoU > CKII
Skyrim > Subnautica
Journey > F/GO
FFXIV > NecroDancer
MK8 > Uncharted 4
Pokémon HGSS > NITW
Rayman Legends > Celeste
Divinity: OSII > Hearthstone
NieR:A > Bayonetta 2

Round Two
LoZ:BotW > Halo:Reach
FFXV > HK
MH:W > Sekiro
DQXI > Bastion
Mass Effect 2 > Fallout 4
Horizon > Borderlands 2
RE2 > DOOM
Bloodborne > FE:A
SSBU > LoZ:LBW
Spider-Man > Minecraft
SK > Octopath
SMO > DMC5
GTAV > Cuphead
P4G > RDR
Xenoblade > Overwatch
FE:TH > Ori
Witcher 3 > Mass Effect 3
SMG2 > Stardew
New Vegas > Dark Souls III
God of War > Nioh
Persona 5 > ACIV
Sonic Mania > SMB
Portal 2 > KHIII
RDR2 > New Leaf
Dark Souls > Rocket League
MGSV > Yakuza 0
Arkham City > BioShock Infinite
TLoU > Diablo III
Skyrim > Journey
MK8 > FFXIV
Pokémon HGSS > Rayman Legends
NieR:A > Divinity:OSII

R3 and following
LoZ:BotW > FFXV
DQXI > MH:W
Mass Effect 2 > Horizon
RE2 > Bloodborne
SSBU > Spider-Man
SMO > SK
P4G > GTAV
Xenoblade > FE:TH
Witcher 3 > SMG2
God of War > New Vegas
Persona 5 > Sonic Mania
Portal 2 > RDR2
Dark Souls > MGSV
TLoU > Arkham City
Skyrim > MK8
Pokémon HGSS > NieR:A
LoZ:BotW > DQXI
Mass Effect 2 > RE2
SSBU > SMO
Xenoblade > P4G
Witcher 3 > God of War
Persona 5 > Portal 2
Dark Souls > TLoU
Skyrim > Pokémon HGSS
LoZ:BotW > ME2
SSBU > Xenoblade
Witcher 3 > Persona 5
Skyrim > Dark Souls
LoZ:BotW > SSBU
Witcher 3 > Skyrim
LoZ:BotW > Witcher 3
LoZ:BotW > LoZ:MM (Bonus)

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