GNamer Fantasy Games League (And your Year Four winner is...)

We're coming down to the wire and it looks as though it's solely between Muss and Cappa now. That Warhammer game that Cappa counter-picked could be his utter undoing as it'll cause a big points swing with it being Muss's last game, which could leave Cappa's fate in the hands of Dragon Quest spin-off of all things.

If Cappa wins again, I propose he's forced to use his first pick on Chicken Shoot Remastered.

Let it be known that I've utterly, utterly shafted the Opencritic scoring this year. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet at 74 my arse, that's well short of what it should be. There's been a few of my games that have suddenly lost points several weeks - and in Two Point Campus's case several months - after they released too.

If Muss wins this, it'll be a proper miscarriage of justice, I'll be calling for an audit of the league. If I win this, then everyone's happy (even Muss).

One thing I've realised from playing this fantasy league the last few years is the large majority of reviewers don't really have a clue how to review things properly.

That's why we need more reviews like the ones on this Episode of GGS
https://share.transistor.fm/s/22a8f314

It's not looking good for Muss - think Darktide is going to settle in the mid 70s by the last time I checked.

We need to hope Dragon Quest Treasures is a colossal stinker of Superman 64 infamy.

"We need to hope..."! I resent that. It's not my fault that I've got this God-given talent for picking out twelve games that are better than another twelve games. But I'm expecting to be shafted by Dragon Quest Treasures' reviews, because everyone hates a winner.

I wouldn't be surprised to see your name in Opencritic's end of year financial report.

So, with the last couple of releases of 2022 passing us by, it looks like we have our final rundown.

Last: andyman949

An absolutely atrocious performance here - multiple games below 70, multiple "did not release" titles... lots to think about for Andy as we move into 2023.

6th: Treesmurf

A victim of some "did not release" titles and the lack of any really high scorers along with a pretty unfortunate counterpick resulted in a second to last finish for Smurf.

5th: Jaster

A strong start with Elden Ring, but the momentum fizzled out as the year went by with a few low 70s picks.

4th: JayMoyles

A thoroughly average performance - a couple of DNR games resulted in a mid table performance for yer man.

3rd: masofdas

Close, but no cigar. Again, some DNR games prevented Mas from mounting a title challenge in earnest this year.

2nd: Muss

For another year running, Muss touches the mountaintop but can't quite cling on to the top spot. Will next year finally be the year?

1st: Cappa

Yet again, a win for The Cappuccino Kid thanks to his nefarious cheating tactics of picking good games and making sure his games are actually releasing in the calendar year. Who will topple him in 2023?

____


Through gritted teeth, congrats to Cappa!

Are we all still in for 2023? Anybody else wanting to join the fun?

Keen like always

Congrats Cappa!

Always keen for a chance to redeem myself

Aye, I'm up for picking one good game again.

If Windjammers 2 got the score it deserved - 103/100 - then Jaster would have won this.

Count me in for some more.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

If Windjammers 2 got the score it deserved - 103/100 - then Jaster would have won this.

Congrats on the win though.

Think I'm doing the Pod of War one for 2023 soon because Jan has Fire Emblem, Forspoken, Season, One Piece, A Space for the Unbound, Dead Space coming out and might be games we draft.

That I have my list of 37 games I may draft ready to go for that one (10 games each, so need a lot to pick from) and this one here which I guess be like 5 games each (If 7 of us again that's 35 games gone right away) meaning got obscure indie ready to go.

I don't think I could even list 10 games that are coming out this year if you asked me haha. I just do not keep track of this stuff. I will play again and maybe this year I'll actually pick up some games early so I'm not panicking at the end!

Aye, I need to get on sending out the invites for this again. I'll probably ping you all on Twitter when the new league is up as it's easier to organise it over there. I'll likely get my finger out this weekend and get it sorted then.

Well my team of 8 is set, here is why I went for them and likes of Balla, Rum to see what we went for

1st round pick

Hollow Knight Silksong. For the 5th year in a row this has been drafted by someone. I took HKS as first pick as it was part of Xbox Showcase last Not-E3 where every game (well part from Kojima's game) coming out in the next 12 months, meaning I should get points for it by E3 this year. The first game got 90, maybe it was just a fluke from Team Cherry, though I hope not.

2nd round pick

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Super risky this one, as it was announced as next winter, which means Dec 23 to Feb 24 however same was said about Crisis Core which launched Dec 22. Then Square has said big year for FF being the 35th anniversary though we do already have Theatrhythm, all six Pixel Remasters coming to console, Ever Crisis and FFXVI coming out along with rumours of Tactics Remaster etc that do they need XVI & Rebirth in the same year, ohh wait they released 35+ games last year so what's two big FF games in one year.

3rd round pick

Rift of the NecroDancer. The genre has changed, though still music based which Crypt and Cadence scored 87 & 86, meaning points like that for me, hopefully.

4th round pick

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Much like FFVII Rebirth, we do have another Like a Dragon game coming out this year (February) that do we get two of them in one year? Though this is a side story, coming in at round 20hrs plus I could see it coming October, meaning games are separated by a good 8 months or so.

5th round pick

Company of Heroes 3. PC RTS init they always do well. I do have one worry, CoH3 is also coming to console at some point, which makes me nervous of reviews going this doesn't translate to a controller etc tanking what reviews it does have.

6th round pick

Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key. It has a date (Feb) and each Atelier game scores higher than the last since the first Ryza game, which hopefully means an 83.

7th round pick

Silent Hill 2 Remake. SH2R will come out this year in what will become the year of horror games. The issue is Bloober Team, they've never made a critically well received game (avg around 75) even if I thought The Medium was great.

8th round pick

One Piece Odyssey. It already has me 6.5 points on the board.

I counter picked STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl as its current date is Dec 2023 and with what's still going on in Ukraine can see it slipping into 2024. My second counter was Alan Wake II which has only had one cinematic trailer and is just 2023, hopefully means it's actually 2024 as if not then that's -15 or so points to me.

More surprising is no one counter picked any of my games, meaning I can drop any of them, making FFVII Rebirth less risky if Square at E3 go hey it's coming Feb 24.

Overall I'm feeling good about my team and predict those 8 get me around 110 points with 6 games still to pick up with my $100.

I'll do the same. Here's what I picked for 2023:

Diablo IV – I had in my head that I was going to pick Spider-Man 2 first, banking on the fact that everybody else would choose random stuff I hadn't heard of first. Muss knackered that idea, so I picked the best-ranked game that was leftover. Diablo 1, 2 and 3 have a good reputation, I think?

Fire Emblem Engage – Lots of points for me on the board by this time next week. Nae danger, an easy and sensible choice that I was surprised wasn’t already picked.

Like A Dragon: Ishin! – Hand on heart, I’d never heard of this game before I’d seen it was the highest-ranked thing leftover by the time it was for me to choose my third game. I think it’s a Yakuza game and they’re usually all right, aye?

Dead Space (Remake) – This’ll probably be okay, won’t it? I see it as a good opportunity to get points in the bag by the end of the month. I’m not sure how many points that’ll be though…

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes – It’s made by the folk who did Year Walk and Sayonara Wild Hearts, and they’re both class.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon – I don’t think this’ll be a resounding critical success but then again I might be pleasantly surprised, so I’ve taken a punt. It helped that it’s got a solid March release date. It also helped that I’d practically run out of games that I’d have voluntarily picked or knew anything about.

Moving Out 2 – My working knowledge about what games were most eagerly anticipated in 2023 had long run out before the league reached my seventh draft pick. I looked at several pages of Master Games List and couldn’t make up my mind. So here’s Moving Out 2: sure to be solid if unspectacular, but a safe bet for an Opencritic score well clear of getting negative points.

Animal Well –I drafted this because it’s the first game that Dunkey’s BIGMODE label will be publishing. Does that mean it’ll be any good? I’ve got no clue.

I also counter-picked the next Dragon Age because other forumites don’t think it’ll be out this year, and Minecraft Legends because it seemed less calamitous than every other counter-pick I could have chosen.

I think I enjoyed last year’s league a lot because I was fortunate to draft lots of games that I earnestly wanted to play and see do well, like Two Point Campus and Shredder’s Revenge. This time, not really - it’s only Lorelei and maybe Bayonetta that I’ll ever play.

I will also do a write up.

My basic strategy was to think this: What does Cappa really want? Because due to the snake system I'd be picking either directly before or after him whenever I drafted. But beyond that there was so much time between me and Mas picking that I didn't pay much attention to the other draft picks. It was annoying when Company of Heroes 3 was snagged though. I think Mas knew that was on my board. Anyway...

Marvel's Spiderman 2 Hoping this will do well. It's built for the PS5 so hopefully we're hitting that groove in the console's life where we just keep getting classics.

Pikmin 4 Last year I made the mistake of not drafting enough Nintendo games. This year I made sure to take Pikmin after Cappa left it on the table

Octopath Traveller 2 A safe pick this one. I'm sure it will do well, and it's definitely coming out

Alan Wake 2 A gamble, but with 3 safe picks on the board already I thought now was a decent time to take a punt.

Assassin's Creed Mirage Pretty confident this will release and these games almost always do well.

Mina the Hollower Bit of a risk this doesn't come out but the team behind Shovel Knight are surely capable of another banger right?

Wild Hearts Picked because it's defo coming out. Not sure it will live up to Monster Hunter but there might be enough about it beyond the looks for it to review well enough.

Homeworld 3 - Series with good pedigree so I think this will be more of the same.

I counterpicked Advance Wars on the premise that it will not release. I don't think we've heard a peep since the war started. And also Hellblade 2 - a massive gamble, but equally we've not heard much about this for a long time so I'm hoping this slides into 2024.

Overall my draft was fairly safe, with a lot of good points primed to go on the board. But I took some big gambles with my counterpicks. If both counterpicked games miss this year then I think my draft should be among the very best in the league. If one comes out I can probably take the hit to at least somewhere near the midtable, but if they both come out I think I'm screwed.

My draft:

Street Fighter 6
The Plucky Squire
System Shock
Skate Story
Harold Halibut
Gunbrella
Minecraft Legends
Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-boot Camp

No real massive strategy this time around from me as I was probably too safe with some picks last year, especially making sure stuff released so I've either picked games I think look great or ones that will at least score well. (hopefully)


My counter picks:
Redfall
Wild Hearts

I just don't think they look that good but if they score high then they are out early enough in the year that I can possibly off set that score with some solid pick ups.

Here's the games I picked and that justification that you asked for:

Resident Evil 4 Remake
An actual remake in that they're changing it up much like they did with 2 and 3, looks a heck of a lot darker and creepier than the original. I don't think I talk enough about how good that 2 Remake is so I'm expecting big scores for this.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Revealed today that it'll have a battle pass! This is fine, Rocksteady know their way around an action game and what I've seen of this looks like huge campy fun. The only worry is another delay but the recent leak has actually put my mind at ease a little.

Sea of Stars
This looks gorgeous, it's an old school rpg from the makers of The Messenger. If feel like RPGs are usually safe bets and even more so when they have a nice art style.

Planet of Lana
Another gorgeous looking game, it's the classic child and their travelling companion creature trope where I'm sure nothing bad will happen... looks set to be a game pass game so that's easy points straight away.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals

I'm a big fan of the first game and in some ways I'm a little worried how they can build of the first game as a lot of the mystique is gone but none the less I'm well up for this so I'm sure the reviewers will be too.

Lies of P
Big Pinnoccio Bloodborne energy, I struggle to see how it can possibly fail. Probably my biggest candidate for a delay I think.

Pepper Grinder
Only seen a small trailer for this at the tail-end of last year however it looks like it'll be a lot of fun with its gameplay mechanics.

Tchia
I've gone for my usual "looks a bit Breath of the Wildy" pick, another nice art style and wholesome looking adventure.

My counter picks:
Moving Out 2
The sequel to the game I platinumed like a week ago... I'm not a hypocrite, I've just gone for something that I don't think will be too damaging, it really was slim pickings.

Metal Slug Tactics
Another one that'll probably be decent but surely not a huge hit, the developer seems to have made generic looking mobile games previously.

Here's my picks and some thoughts behind them:

Final Fantasy XVI: Chuffed to bits I managed to get this as my number one pick as it's my personal most anticipated game of the year. I think with the pedigree of the FFXIV dev team behind it alongside the combat designer from DMCV that this game is going to be a winner.

Forza Motorsport: After my gaff at picking the wrong Forza game a couple of years ago, I picked the right one this time. I think this could potentially end up being my highest scorer - Forza games always do pretty well indeed.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor: Guaranteed points on the table here - clear release date and should do pretty well I think!

Atomic Heart: Bit of a sleeper pick this one - it's been previewing very well and I think I could have a winner on my hands here.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line: More guaranteed points on the table, I think. Rhythm games usually do solidly and I expect this will bank me a decent amount of points too.

Mineko's Night Market: Bit of a gamble in that it doesn't have a confirmed release date, but it's been cooking for a while and I think it should come out this year. These style of indie games always review well too.

Metal Slug Tactics: A carryover from yesterday - I gambled here too in that it's coming from a mostly unproven dev. I think it's definitely coming out this year, but I'm quietly confident it'll surprise people.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II: My biggest gamble as we've not heard much from this one. I think it'll be Xbox's big winter release, but there's every chance it'll fall into 2024.

I counterpicked Bayonetta Origins as it didn't look great in its trailer and I think I don't think Platinum are a guaranteed hit machine these days either. There's a bit of a stink around it. Harold Halibut got my second counterpick. I think it looks really unique, but it's been radio silent for years and it's the sort of game that will take bloody ages to come out. I don't think it'll make this year.

All in all, pretty chuffed with my draft. With a bit of luck with some of my TBC release dates and some good picks ups, I'm feeling good about this year.

I've been busy already and got four new games on my team, which are:

Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2, the first scored 82 and it has a date of May that if it gets around the same then a good pick.

Ara: History Untold, risky as the only game I can find the team has done is Ashes of the Singularity in 2016 that only has 71 (DLC has 84 mind) the reason I've gone for it as these sorts of PC games often do well and the bigger budget from Xbox hopefully means it's good plus should be out before E3.

Teslagrad 2, the first has a 79 so not a super scoring indie but this has been in development for a while and the latest trailer where it was dated for Spring looked good.

Redemption Reapers, I had this on my list to start with and what I almost went for over One Piece as it is from the ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights team a game that scored 85, just it lacked a date, but now it has been dated for Feb 22nd. The change of genre from Metroidvania to TRPG like Fire Emblem might not turn out well. EDIT It didn't turn out well.

Really these four should all be out before E3 2023 and score me some points, and main reason why I went for them as stuff I know will come out because if Rebirth and LAD: TMWEHN or even Silksong (I believe you Phil Spencer it's coming before E3) all end up being 2024, I can only drop one of them and end up with two lots of zero points.  

I did also bid on but didn't win Cocoon, as it's another should be out before E3 and Annapurna publishing it from a bunch of guys who used to be at Playdead though we heard that with Somerville. If I had won, then I would have left Teslagrad 2.

So let me get this straight….you’re telling me that andyman started the league with the first draft, selected the highest rated game of all time yet has still comprehensively humiliated himself with two utterly riddy picks afterward, seemingly consigning himself to another last place finish before it’s even June?