Desert Island Video Game Draft Playoffs - Round 2 (#3 SLAB vs. #6 Capt. Factorial)

[Capt. Factorial]

SLAB​

1. The Last Of Us (PS5)
2. Bloodborne: GOTY Edition (PS4)
3. Secret of Mana (SNES)
4. Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
5. Undertale (PC)
6. Resident Evil 2 (PS1)
7. Diablo III Eternal Collection (PS4)
8. Dragon Age Inquisition: GOTY Edition (PS4)
9. The Binding of Isaac: Repentance (PC)
10. Rocksmith (Xbox One)
11. Red Dead Redemption (PS3)
12. Pokemon GO (Mobile)
13. The Simpsons (Arcade)
14. Grand Theft Auto Online (PS5)
15. The Last Of Us Part II Remastered (PS5)



vs.

Capt. Factorial​

1. Super Mario Bros. (NES)
2. Tetris (NES)
3. Metroid (NES)
4. Astro Bot (PS5)
5. The Legend of Zelda (NES Mini)
6. Myst (Macintosh)
7. Pac-Man (Arcade)
8. Centipede: Recharged (PS5)
9. Final Fantasy (NES)
10. River Raid (Atari 2600)
11. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
12. Astrosmash (Intellivision)
13. Out Of The Park Baseball 21 (Macintosh)
14. Ice Hockey (NES)
15. Stray (PS5)

 

[admira1]

These are gonna hurt more as we go lol

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Nostalgia!

 

[Padrino]

Tricky, this one was. I really like the vibe of @SLAB's island, but it's weighted towards PlayStation experiences that I have largely missed out on, including Bloodborne, which is a game I have wanted to play for a long time now. @Capt. Factorial's list, by contrast, is like a stroll through the old neighborhood. There's some special and influential stuff there, and a couple of formative gaming experiences for me that are hard to ignore. So my vote went to Capt.'s island.

 

[Löwenherz]

I might have voted for Cap just so my prophecy would stay alive. (Not really)

Truth is SLAB has more games I adore or at least admire: The Last of Us, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy VI, Undertale, The Simpsons, Red Dead Redemption (which I initially forgot was on his roster because it’s buried all the way down there at 11).

Even in saying that, I’ve played those 6 phenomenal games once (twice for SoM. One full play-through of The Simpsons after a PlayStation Store download).

But I’ve played Zelda II upwards of 20 times, and the original Zelda and Final Fantasy something like a dozen. Throw me on an island with those three, plus old pallet cleanser standbys of SMB, PAC-Man, Ice Hockey, and even Metroid, some interesting modern PS5 games with a retro feel in Astro Boy, Centipede: Recharged, and Stray, and a super detailed Management Sim in OOTP Baseball and I really think I could make that work for the long haul.

Whole > sum of parts.

Captain, it’s been an honor.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Captain, it’s been an honor.

Welp. To be honest, I never intended to win this thing in the first place, I really just wanted to start the TDOS draft concept up again and went with the winning vote, despite it falling well outside my realm.

Congrats, SLAB! Best of luck in the rounds to come! (Next up: Padrino)

 

[hrdboild]

A day late, a buck short, but I still wrote the report...

1. Final Fantasy VI (Slab) = 30 "This is what makes Final Fantasy such a great series in my eyes -- fantasy RPGs are a dime a dozen but steampunk Star Wars with an interlude where our characters are conscripted into participating in an opera performance and a mid-game cataclysmic event that reshapes the entire world of the game is something else. This might be the only other pick in this draft that stings just a bit thinking that I could have drafted it and didn't."
2. Myst (Capt) = 29 "One little scrap of information I came across is that the maze puzzle on the Selenitic Age (accessed via the Rocketship on Myst Island) was originally supposed to look like this and players would have walked through it. The computers they were using at the time would have taken so long to render the images (and for a maze you would need a lot of images) that they had to scrap it and they instead designed the mine car which travels along the maze track for you and stops at specific intervals."
3. The Last Of Us (Slab) = 28 "I've decided that there's no chance that I will not like this game, I'm just waiting to find the time to play it."
4. The Last Of Us Part II Remastered (Slab) = 27 "Same as above though since this is a direct sequel, I would want to play Part 1 first."
5. Pac-Man (Capt) = 26 "Just for kicks I looked up just now how expensive one of the Pac-Man arcade tables would be on ebay and someone near me is selling one for only $300! It doesn't work but it's probably fixable with a soldering iron and several weekends of dedicated research. I have nowhere to put it, otherwise it would be tempting."
6. Stray (Capt) = 25 "Top 5 favorite things about cats: (1) They can sleep all day without feeling a bit guilty about it. (2) They always find the best sunny spot on the couch to plop into -- a cinematographer's dream subject. (3) Will take any opportunity to make a sneak attack. (4) Always immaculately groomed. (5) Love to climb up, less enthusiastic about climbing down. Relatable."
7. Secret of Mana (Slab) = 24 "I've only watched people play this one and I get confused between this and Secret of Evermore. I believe this was the game that I liked more though."
8. Resident Evil 2 (Slab) = 23 "I started this game but didn't get very far. I'd love to give this another try -- probably in its remastered form though you picked the OG PS1 release, which I respect."
9. Red Dead Redemption (Slab) = 22 "This was on at a party I went to in college and it briefly caught my eye. It was also a graphical marvel in its day."
10. Final Fantasy (Capt) = 21 "With so many other FF titles out there, I might not ever get around to this one but you built your list the same way I built mine with a focus on an era that meant a lot to you so you get a tip of the cap from me, which is just as good as a vote right?"
11. Astro Bot (Capt) = 20 "Aprpopos of nothing, one of my best friends in college would only ever refer to Mario 64 as 'blaspheMario'. You can see why we got along. I watched a little more of this one and saw the level where Astro Bot is jumping around on space station themed platforms with a chicken strapped to his back. I have no idea what the context is for how we got there, but I've decided that Astro Bot and me could be friends."
12. Centipede: Recharged (Capt) = 19 "I do like some arcade style games and this one looks fun."
13. Out of the Park Baseball 21 (Capt) = 18 "Google tells me this was released on March 20, 2020 -- pretty much the exact day that the world shut down because of Covid. Or did it actually shut down so that Capt would have unlimited time to play OOTP Baseball 21?"
14. Diablo III Eternal Collection (Slab) = 17 "I played this when it first came out, how could I not, and the bad taste has never gone away. I'm sure it was made better over time but I drifted off into Star Wars The Old Republic instead and don't regret my choice."
15. River Raid (Capt) = 16 "I wish there were more top-down perspective action games being made -- this still looks like something I would play. Was Atari the only console that shipped with a joystick controller? I was thinking about TIE Fighter and Star Wars: Squadrons and realized that I haven't even owned a joystick since I was in HS."
16. Ice Hockey (Capt) = 15 "Imagine designing games in an era when you could call your game simply 'Ice Hockey' and folks would think 'yeah that sounds fun, I want to play that'. How quickly we grow jaded."
17. Dragon Age Inquisition: GOTY Edition (Slab) = 14 "I fully expected to rank this last when I read the title but it surprised me. For being another self-serious fantasy yarn with preposterous dialog recited between bouts of sword-fighting action, there's enough about this that appeals to me that I can see giving this one a chance."
18. The Binding of Isaac: Repentance (Slab) = 13 "Okay so I'm ranking this pretty low based on my desire to play it. But similar to Interstate 76 this game has a distinctive look, a concept, and an overall creative vision that I do tremendously appreciate. If someone told me this was their favorite game I would nod with approval."
19. The Legend of Zelda (Capt) = 12 "This is up two points from the last time I scored it though my opinion hasn't changed. Damned inflation strikes again!"
20. Bloodborne: GOTY Edition (Slab) = 11 "This one has an impressive visual style but it also doesn't particularly look like a game that I would enjoy playing for very long."
21. The Simpsons (Slab) = 10 "Tough to rank this one. I've watched the show a little bit, I've played the game a little bit, there's nothing wrong with either of them but they're not in my personal pop culture lexicon."
22. Astrosmash (Capt) = 9 "I love the cover art on the original game. High marks for that. I thought the game itself looked a little too simple to be entertaining but then I saw the reimagined version with flashy modern graphics and it won me over. SO yeah... I can easily be bought with pretty pictures. I'm ranking the Intellivision version here though."
23. Undertale (Slab) = 8 "Hmm, I'm sure I'm missing something here given how well regarded this game is. It appears to me that we've entered the post-modern era of video games when something like this comes along and garners acclaim for what looks to me like a tasteful remix of the aesthetics and mechanics of bygone eras. It's hard to feel nostalgic for an era of gaming you barely participated in though. I'm not blown away by what I saw."
24. Tetris (Capt) = 7 "Hello darkness my old friend. I've come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping... Left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains, within... the sound of.... Tetris."
25. Rocksmith (Slab) = 6 "Well it's a step up from Rock Band. Just having the ability to plug in a guitar and play through a bunch of virtual amps and effects pedals is pretty cool. And this seems like it would teach you riffs and chord shapes that are actually useable as a guitar player. But then I start thinking about how the streaming model has destroyed the ability of musicians to make money from their music while games that let you cosplay as a musician remain popular and I just get dismayed at how our business-first culture treats artists."
26. Pokemon GO (Slab) = 5 "A game that I know more for causing car accidents and running people off of cliffs than its actual gameplay. I don't think I could get into this one at this point. Too much blood has been spilled."
27. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (Capt) = 4 "I still don't like the look of this. Zelda 1 wasn't a favorite of mine but it felt like its own game. This just feels like Nintendo wanted to cross-pollinate Zelda with Mario."
28. Grand Theft Auto Online (Slab) = 3 "Like most of the modern GTA games, I am gobsmacked by the scope of the game world that Rockstar has created here but not all that interested in the game they've built around it."
29. Metroid (Capt) = 2 "I have slightly more positive thoughts about Metroid having looked into some of the later games in the series. And yet it still sits here at 2 points."
30. Super Mario Bros (Capt) = 1 "Well... I could easily see someone flipping these rankings and having the OG Super Mario at #1 with FF VI and Myst at the bottom as game experiences that are too long and dull to hold their interest. So it's all eye of the beholder stuff really."

CAPT = 224 | SLAB = 241

 

[Capt. Factorial]

A day late, a buck short, but I still wrote the report...

Final Fantasy (Capt) = 21 "With so many other FF titles out there, I might not ever get around to this one but you built your list the same way I built mine with a focus on an era that meant a lot to you so you get a tip of the cap from me, which is just as good as a vote right?"

CAPT = 224 | SLAB = 241

Now the above statement *is* true. I do think that I mentioned the draft, or at least talked around the fact, that between the NES and the PS5 I owned no gaming consoles. It's fair to say that - PC games (mostly also drafted) excluded - I probably have not spent a full hour, collectively, playing any games on any consoles that came out between the NES and the PS5.

So did the era mean a lot to me? Yes. But also, I only drafted what I know. This did leave me with a fairly small repertoire to choose from compared to the average drafter here, and I knew that going in.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I wouldn't classify your repertoire as smaller, necessarily; I'd say it was more vintage, which suits me down to the ground.