As mentioned in the other thread, I decided to do my own mini re-draft with 4 games from each list that I thought were the strongest plus the highest drafted game that I did not select in the 5th spot as Dealer's Choice.
Team Padrino's Starting 5:
- Favorite Game I Have Played: Disco Elysium: The Final Cut (PC)
- Most Want to Play: Mass Effect (PC)
- Wild Card #1: No Man's Sky (PC)
- Wild Card #2: Control (PC)
- Dealer's Choice: Elden Ring (PC)
Team Padrino's Bench:
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PC)
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Special Edition] (PC)
- GoldenEye 007 (Nintendo 64)
- Castlevania (NES)
- Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
- Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch)
- Mortal Kombat II (SNES)
- Citizen Sleeper (PC)
- Dark Souls: Remastered (Nintendo Switch)
vs.
Team SLAB's Starting 5:
- Favorite Game I Have Played: Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
- Most Want to Play: The Last of Us (PS5)
- Wild Card #1: The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PS5)
- Wild Card #2: Secret of Mana (SNES)
- Dealer's Choice: Bloodborne: GOTY Edition (PS4)
Team SLAB's Bench:
- Undertale (PC)
- Resident Evil 2 (PS1)
- Diablo III Eternal Collection (PS4)
- Dragon Age Inquisition: GOTY Edition (PS4)
- The Binding of Isaac: Repentance (PC)
- Rocksmith (Xbox One)
- Red Dead Redemption (PS3)
- Pokemon GO (Mobile)
- The Simpsons (Arcade)
- Grand Theft Auto Online (PS5)
Another fascinating matchup here. Team Padrino comes out strong with an All-League backcourt pairing of
Disco Elysium and
Mass Effect. There has been a lot of criticism regarding Disco Elysium's warm-up routine involving chain smoking cigarettes and downing stale day-old coffee but you can't argue with the results. Mass Effect is the ageless wonder and is as steady as ever running a pick and roll.
Control is an absolute sniper out there in the corners and
No Man's Sky has a seemingly endless array of moves and counter-moves which makes them deadly from 10 feet and in. And then you've got
Elden Ring in the pivot which more than makes up for in nastiness what it lacks in reach.
Team SLAB can lay claim to having the best player left in this tournament with
Final Fantasy VI doing it all at point forward.
Bloodborne: GOTY Edition has legs and arms for days as a modern unicorn big who can mix it up inside but needs to be respected from range too. Which leaves a position-less backcourt trio of
Secret of Mana and both
The Last of Us titles bringing feistiness and grit from the guard and small forward positions. They're really going to have to work together to stop Team Padrino's backcourt but I can't say enough good things about their pedigree so I have to think that they're up to the task.
As I look to the benches this doesn't get any easier to call. Team Padrino takes a "more is more" approach with
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition all ready and able to play a full 48 if called upon. This squad also has a crew of good-looking veterans who still garner respect around the league in
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past,
GoldenEye 007,
Mortal Kombat II, and
Castlevania. I'm not fully convinced by the unconventional approach of
Citizen Sleeper yet, but I can see a lot of potential there. Credit to Padrino for drafting a rock solid squad of heavy hitters.
By contrast, SLAB stuffed his bench with razor sharp role-players who excel in very specific niche areas. You have to respect the hustle of
Undertale and
The Binding of Isaac making the most of their limited physical tools with craftiness and heart.
Resident Evil 2,
Grand Theft Auto Online, and
Diablo III may not have quite lived up to their massive hype in my estimation but they absolutely can play in this league.
Dragon Age Inquisition really impressed me with its blue collar work ethic and fundamental skillset.
Red Dead Redemption is long in the tooth but can still come in off the bench and shoot and of course there's the international phenom
Pokemon GO who is always a threat to steal a game if you let it get hot. Some might even peg
Rocksmith as the true sleeper of this squad with chops for days and a full command of the ins and outs of putting on a show for the crowd.
...
This is really tough. My first thought is that I ought to reward the depth of Padrino's roster here but then I've got
Final Fantasy VI staring me in the face as my highest ranked game that was picked by someone else. Ultimately this round is more about the games I still want to play. On Padrino's side that's
Disco Elysium (technically I have played it, but just for a day),
Mass Effect, No Man's Sky, and
Control. On SLAB's side that's
The Last of Us,
The Last of Us Part 2,
Resident Evil 2, and
Dragon Age: Inquisition. Damn. I still don't see a clear winner.
I don't want to punk out and call this a tie so I'm just going to go with my gut here. I'm picking
@SLAB in an upset because I can't say no to Final Fantasy VI. Also I mostly play shorter games these days if I play anything at all and he's got more games that I'm likely to finish. It might have been Dragon Age: Inquisition which tipped the scales for you. I had no interest in that game whatsoever until I watched a playthrough and realized that its a BioWare RPG and evidently they know how to make a fantasy setting look interesting to me.
