The Video Game Critic

I would have thought Zelda or Mario was a sure-win for this as well. The fact that Mario 3 lost to Pokemon Red/Blue is pretty surprising to me... Also, judging from the bracket, it seems like 1 other the Metal Gear games will make it to the finals. Brackets are always quite weird as a solid game could get kicked out really early if it's in a heavy seeded bracket. A double elimination bracket would be a better indicator of which games are most popular as ever (former tournament player here...).

Update time. So, as predicted in a prior post--true to Gamefaqs form--Nintendo is killing it (even when it shouldn't), Square has followed close behind, and Metal Gear Solid was the last non-Nintendo/Square series to survive. No surprises, right?....

Or wait... what's this game Undertale??? I have to admit, I'm not up to date on current games, so I had never even heard of it. Best as I can tell from a quick google search, it is an indie RPG that was released for the PC in September 2015 to rave reviews. Sounds great. So, that explains why it started off the tournament by beating Mass Effect 3 and Fallout 3. Nothing too crazy there. BUT, since then, it has gone on to knock out Super Mario World, Pokemon Red/Blue, Super Mario 64, and Super Smash Bros. Melee [which itself beat Final Fantasy VII]. All four of those are major Nintendo fanboy drool-fests. On other websites, particularly PC-focused sites or RPG fansites, I could see a creative indie darling like Undertale taking down the Nintendo behemoth. But on Gamefaqs?... Absolutely not. I cry foul. No one--except Square, once in a blue moon--beats Nintendo on Gamefaqs. My bet is that the indie company behind the game has somehow rigged the vote in order to gain publicity for its game, thus translating into more sales (after all, it is still a brand new game). Am I just crazy? Anyone have any other theories on this?

As a result of its inexplicable streak of success, Undertale is now headed to the Finals. While it's challenger is not yet decided, there is no doubt that it will be Ocarina of Time (which will surely beat out Super Mario RPG). And NO ONE beats Ocarina of Time in a Gamefaqs poll. Gamefaqs visitors dream about Ocarina of Time every night when they go to sleep. If you asked the average Gamefaqs visitor if he would prefer to cuddle with an attractive woman or a 45 year old man dressed like Link from Ocarina of Time, they would choose to cuddle with the Link guy every time. So, morale of the story is that Undertale has no business beating Zelda in the Finals, and I claim rig-job if it happens.

I have to agree that Undertale knocking out so many big titles is surprising although I think the reason why is that Stream sites, twitter, and others have been advertising to vote for the game. I did a google search and found a lot of references to vote for Undertale... I think a combination of fans, or people who simply want to upset the polls, is taking place. It has a very strong chance of winning this whole thing as it has pretty much knocked out everybody... If OoT somehow does beat this conspiracy then I would have guessed right but I'm very doubtful now as I think the people voting for Undertale have gathered all of their troops.

Rev wrote:I have to agree that Undertale knocking out so many big titles is surprising although I think the reason why is that Stream sites, twitter, and others have been advertising to vote for the game. I did a google search and found a lot of references to vote for Undertale... I think a combination of fans, or people who simply want to upset the polls, is taking place. It has a very strong chance of winning this whole thing as it has pretty much knocked out everybody... If OoT somehow does beat this conspiracy then I would have guessed right but I'm very doubtful now as I think the people voting for Undertale have gathered all of their troops.

Undertale is a very interesting game. I haven't played it yet, but I imagine I will eventually, as it's only $10 and requires virtually nothing to run on PC. The reason why it's winning the GameFAQs poll is because Reddit has gotten behind it, even I've voted for it myself. GameFAQs runs these things every year, what's the point of another Zelda/Mario/Final Fantasy predictable poll result?

GameFAQs is a weird crew of RPG nuts (check any console's top 10 message board, several RPGs are in the top 10), and console war fanboys. Most of whom act like they're 12-17 years old and really have no concept of a 'console war' because everything has been virtually the same the past 10 years. I have no idea why many Nintendo fans on those forums get upset about Undertale winning this poll, it's a spiritual sequel to Earthbound and the creator is actually a huge Nintendo fan:

Fox had gone on the record that he does not think about where his inspirations are coming from, and that the writing was a combination of everything he had ever read. He cites the silliness of internet culture as one of his influences, as well as comedy acts like Mr. Bean. He also stated that EarthBound has had a large influence on him, because of its unsettling atmosphere. In an interview with The Escapist, Fox listed off inspirations for the game: "The talking system came from Shin Megami Tensei. I feel that it's important to make every monster feel like an individual. If you think about it basically all monsters in RPGs like Final Fantasy are the same, save for the graphics. They attack you, you heal, you attack them, they die. There's no meaning to that."

Fox has stated that he did not want grinding to be necessary at any point, wanting people to be able to do it if they wanted to while still making it as optional as possible. He also did not want to introduce fetch quests, as they involve backtracking that he does not really like. He said that he likes Super Mario RPG and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the latter having one of his favorite RPG battle systems ever, and that he wanted Undertale to have an equally engaging system.

I bolded the things that stand out to me as reasons why I find RPGs so boring that he addresses. And ironically enough, he listed my two favorite RPGs, the two Mario games, and EXACTLY the reason why they stand out. He said he would love to bring the game to Nintendo systems, but he made the entire game in Gamemaker: Studio, so he would have to completely reprogram it to bring it to a console. By the way, he did the entire game himself with some artwork help, and it took him almost THREE years to do so.

Anyway, there's some context to the game. Sometimes the backstory of how things are created is as interesting as the final product itself. It definitely seems like a game and creator to root for, instead of some getting bent out of shape it could mess up another predictable GameFAQs poll.

NX17 wrote:The reason why it's winning the GameFAQs poll is because Reddit has gotten behind it, even I've voted for it myself. GameFAQs runs these things every year, what's the point of another Zelda/Mario/Final Fantasy predictable poll result?

Good to know. I figured some site was behind it. After watching how this has been going down, it seems pretty obvious that the polls usually have the same winners. Kind of disappointing as I would have liked to see a wider variety of titles that weren't just Nintendo/Square titles that did well, but this could have a completely unexpected ending, which is kind of fun.

Nice post, NX17. RPG's do seem to partition gamers.

Repetition is a big part of most video game genres: fighting, beat'em ups, sports, arcade, schmups, shooters, strategy games, platformers, etc. With RPGs though, the repetition may feel like its dialed up a notch. Your party of four explorers may backtrack to the same town where the same NPCs are in the same spot saying the same thing. You go to a shop and buy the same supplies. You journey to the dungeon re-fighting the same random monsters on the way. When you get to the dungeon, its often the same random monsters there. In tabletop, grinding is just called the next adventure, but it can feel like rinse lather repeat on a computer.

There are lots of different RPGs though, with different battle systems, storylines, world design, etc. I like some RPGs, but not others, and sometimes its hard to pinpoint why some get 60+ hours of play, and some I just lose interest in after a few hours. I've never played Super Mario RPG or Superstar Saga, possibly because I find Mario kinda silly (in a good way - not bashing Mario) from his platformer fame, and like my RPGs to have a more serious tone.