@sentinel-beach I'm ONE magazine away from getting the Platinum, and I know where it is too:

The one on the ground in the bus station, which I can only get if I select Revolution in the previous chapter AND I have to get to the station successfully.

@axel Absolutely! I only sided with RE 2 for two reasons:

• As much praise Sekiro has gotten, because RE 2 is a beloved pre-existing game that actually hit the incredibly high expectations in its Remake, I feel like I've been exposed to more praise for it.

• Looking at the map that's been 2019, many contenders that could go toe-to-toe with RE 2 and Sekiro either didn't live up to GOTY contention (Spoilers for my GOTY list, KH III currently leads, but even though it tops my list for now, it and many other games [Metro, Devil May Cry 5, Fire Emblem: Three Houses {A dark horse!}, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and even Apex Legends among others] ALL are not as critically well received as RE 2) OR the games were pushed/dated 2020 (The Last of Us Part II, Final Fantasy VII: Remake, CyberPunk 2077, DOOM: Eternal, etc.)

You are correct I'm one that doesn't touch horror, but I DID watch the complete playthrough Huber did at release (Like for VII, and now I've seen 4 and 5 this way as well), and I recognize the game is excellent.

As for future games (Death Stranding, Jedi: Fallen Order, and Pokemon specifically), Death Stranding may have the strongest case, but it MIGHT suffer for being too weird/obtuse/etc., to definitively say its in the running. Not at least until it comes out anyway. Just because this is Kojima's first game since Konami Konami'd, doesn't NECESSARILY mean it'll be a critical hit. Not saying it won't be, just saying until I see/hear impressions/reviews, I'm not declaring it a contender yet.

Using myself as an example of personal interest in the Death Stranding timeline:

• E3 2016 reveal - Ok. Weird. But I'm pissed at Konami. I don't know what this is, but I'm interested and want to see Kojima succeed.
• The Game Awards 2016 trailer - Sweet! Del Toro AND Mads is in this. Still weird, but still interested.
• The Game Awards 2017 trailer - Oooookay. First half segment in the rain is intriguing, but the second half in the apparent underwater is kind of dampening it for me.
• E3 2018 trailer ("Gameplay" reveal) - Pretty. Like the song. Super wide open. Looks... boring? What are we even DOING?!
• TGS 2018 trailer - Troy Baker is in it. Hype increased
• Release date trailer - OK! Here we GO! Love this song. Ok, so THAT'S combat. FINALLY some new characters. Flashbacks?!
• Gamescom trailer and stage presentation - ...........Kojima and Keighley more than love each other at this point right? But... the BB integration could be annoying. Why is peeing a mechanic? Combat against... that.... whatever it is.... looks complicated and stressful.
• Character trailers, TV commerical, and briefing trailers - Ok, so everything I've seen at this point is so bizarre, out there, and (again all of this is my personal reactions and feelings as they've evolved with each new piece of media) not engaging gameplay wise, it actually did TOO much in the marketing and now I've gone from interested in getting pending others' impressions to "Nope. Too obtuse. Best of luck to it, because it'll sell regardless."

@axel In order

• With each list you do, I'll always be here for, but particularly with the retro lists, I feel they're getting less and less participation (Despite you only doing one or two retro lists a year). And that depresses me.

• What happened with Dishonored 2 is practically no one played the thing, which is a personal aggravating point. Dishonored 2 RULES and the fact it didn't place STILL hurts, not just on the Forum list, but the general discourse.

• I figured I was the only person to vote for Uncharted and Resistance.

• As for unpredictability for 2019, coming into the year I felt that and was excited for it, but as we sit here in October, I get the feeling Resident Evil 2 Remake has it locked because most of the highly anticipated stuff either were dated or delayed into 2020.

• I'll do my best to remind and request a move to the Hall of Fame at the same time in a few weeks.

• Excellent recap!

@shoulderguy Thanks for doing so! The Index is updated accordingly.

@yoshi Because apparently companies (especially western ones) have some unspoken understanding Holiday equates to U.S. Thanksgiving to Christmas time.

Plus, expecting a specific date for a console launch that's not going to come over a year from now is unnecessary. It also gives the flexibility to not having being married to a day if there isn't a current 100% commitment to said day while simultaneously allows people to see who will twitch first when a competitor announces a date, others plan accordingly.

@axel Excellent! Adjusting now!

Ahhhhhh, so CLOSE on two of my votes being the GOTY. Ah well ^.^ Also, I'm very sorry this is too long to read.

Before getting into this massive post, I just want to briefly touch on the one of the above I didn't play, THE 2012 Game of the Year, The Walking Dead.

The problem with EXTREMELY popular narratives in games (especially in today's day and age of Twitter, YouTube comments, etc.), is massively impactful plot twists and narrative moments don't have a long shelf life in being kept secret. Plus, by the time I really started following along in the hobby beyond my own interests, it had been years since release.

Because of this, the crescendo of this game will never be topped in this genre with Telltale no longer what it is. I've never cared for this style of game (the only one I've played being Tales of the Borderlands and even then I feel meh on it), so I have absolutely no desire to ever go through the entire game. (Plus, the notorious tech issues...)

With that out of the way, getting into Mass Effect 3, I'm just going to go ahead and get this out of the way:

(Looks left, right, then back left)

The ending isn't the worst thing ever.

CONTEXT! I didn't get into the series until some time after this game came out. One day, I was sitting in an Xbox Live Party with some friends who were talking about it (So I knew Shepard's fate, but didn't really pay that much attention) and one of said friends tried HARD to sell me on not just 3, but the entire trilogy as a whole. Likening it Star Trek with psychic powers, I got the trilogy and I'm happy I did. It's become one of my favorite trilogies ever.

But as for the rest of the game, I loved the stakes kept getting higher (though by the time I DID reach ME 3, I felt it bizarre that we have Earth attacked at the start then not come back until the climax). I loved visiting the Turian moon Palavan and the Asari homeworld Thessia. I think Kai is an EXCELLENT villain to despise, and the Illusive Man being frustrating in being blinded by his motivations (Though I DO feel robbed if you go ultra Paragon). And finally, I mentioned when talking about Borderlands 2, there was another game that had a DLC that rivaled Tiny Tina's on being my favorite, and the Citadel is that DLC. The story isn't THAT great, but it's the Party that's so memorable. Having everybody there possible, all interacting with one another gave me the best version of one of my favorite Huberisms: CULMINATION. The feels after that party after spending three games investing in everyone. Chef's kiss

I know I JUST did this with Dishonored, but again, it makes me happy to share my enthusiasm with others who like the same games I do. So here we go again! Massive shout-outs and high-fives to: @Sazime, @Exist-2-Inspire, @bard91, @Shoulderguy, @Hidz, @paulmci27, @Lotias, @Hazz3r, @Capnbobamous, @naltmank, @ffff0, and @Brandon_Reister !

So that the first half of this novel about the top 2 is over, onto my full list!

1. Dishonored
2. Borderlands 2
3. Mass Effect 3
4. Halo 4
5. (Honorable Mention) Uncharted: Golden Abyss
6. (Honorable Mention) Resistance: Burning Skies
7. (Honorable Mention) Assassin's Creed III
8. (Honorable Mention) Kingdom Hearts: Dream, Drop, Distance
9. (Didn't make the cut) Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault

To touch on those that didn't make it in ascending order:

Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault is a major disappointment. Tower defense has never been my thing, and the crucial elements that give the franchise heart (Vast and wacky weaponry, endearing narrative, diverse planets, etc.) were all missing. Everything is just not good, and rivals Size Matters as my lowest ranking R&C game. And the fact this was developed by Insomniac blows my mind. Finally, you can't start a new game from scratch. Just replay story missions from a menu on a pre-existing save. So it suffers this same problem as Crackdown and Sunset Overdrive.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream, Drop, Distance is... trying, on both patience and rationality (and that's saying something for a Kingdom Hearts game). The forced "drop" mechanic of switching between Riku and Sora is initially jarring, but isn't that bad when you get used to it. I liked how you could see every story from two different points of view, but the Dream Eaters are one of the series' most useless things. Gameplay of jumping off the nearest wall CONSTANTLY to deal the strongest attacks just isn't fun. And the most aggravating thing is the out of NOWHERE difficult spike when you reach the final world. It's RIDICULOUS how there's no real grinding opportunites in combination with poor balancing. I played this game for the first time as the PS4 re-release port... and it's frustrating.

Resistance: Burning Skies is the most through-and-through "Fine" game there is on the Vita. I love the franchise, but this game is short and has a forgettable narrative with a self-contained faceless character, despite how fun it is to fight Chimera on the go. Sure, the gimmicks of the touch screen for set pieces and melee is a bummer, but it's a solid, quality FPS for a portable, and that's good.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss is my favorite Vita exclusive (I didn't play the Vita much). But it's more Uncharted and it's enjoyable. Clearly an outlier by coming out post 3, but taking place pre 1, much like Resistance, it's a great franchise on the go. Some of the story moments are kind of stupid, but what's Uncharted without its campy aspects. Really like this as a mindless one-off.

Finally, the last game on my list and my number 4 pick is Halo 4. And when I think about this game, I think of friends. The campaign is... eeeehhhhh? Shrugs Shoulders What I think fondly of is spending SO much time in Forge or private lobbies with friends, messing around on weird maps and bizarre game modes. Multiplayer is what it is and while I do have a couple of nice moments in mind, for the most part, it's whatever.

WHEW. That SHOULD be my last post in this thread (pending the recap stats) so all of the thank yous to anyone who has read a sentence of this and to @Axel for once again giving us such an enjoyable time! Until the 2019 thread!!!

@oscillator Thanks for doing so! Was able to add your Luigi's Mansion desire to your pre-existing Pokemon ranking (That I had adjusted).

With today's news of DOOM: Eternal's delay, it is now disqualified from the Index. For reference, it was the fifth most desired game remaining, with seven desires, two of which (one of them being mine) had it at the top of the list.

@dmcmaster I'm prefer discs and I'm going to go broke, because I have no self-control <X-)