I love Warlock, it's a great game and I've played it a ton, however it is a completely different type of game from FE and doesn't have nearly the amount of depth. I do not at all think it's better than FE, just different. What it does, it does brilliantly but it's more of a shallow pond where FE is a very deep pool. I enjoy playing both but I think FE will have more staying power because of the sheer amount of depth in the game, the great AI (Warlock's is quite bad) and the mods that will be coming. Plus, lets not forget that Warlock has already had many patches and about 4 DLC to get to where it is now. FE will only get better from here.

FE does still have quite a few little bugs in the 1.0 release but most of these are not game breaking, just annoyances. I expect them to fix those pretty quickly. The campaign is another issue. It was not included with the beta testing and it shows. I expect most if not all of the major issues there will be fixed in the first patch.

The bottom line is that you need to play FE for about 20 hours in sandbox mode to really appreciate what they have delivered here. You should try playing several factions so you can see just how different from one another the factions really are.

Though FE shares many characteristics with the great fantasy 4x TBS strategy games of the past, ultimately it is something new and plays in its own unique way within a detailed and interesting world. If you don't like that world, Stardock provide excellent modding tools built right into the game that will allow you to design and play in the world of your choice. I only wish more developers made games like this. Is it the most polished game on release this year? No, it isn't. I'd argue that it's the most unique, though. The last time we had a game anywhere remotely like this was Age of Wonders, Shadow Magic. How many years ago was that? Games like this are rare and I appreciate it for what is is and I appreciate Stardock for their dogged determination to develop it and do it right. I think they did a fine job.

Remember that the year still has two months to whirl along before it gets a reboot.  It might be better to wait on arguing the "best game of the year" until the year's actually out--but that's up to you.

Neither can I, but that's because I didn't.

FE was the only game worth buying this year. In truth...only have so much time available...

I think you are pretty close actually, what you lack in Graphics, Interface and Balance, you make up for in sheer fun and adventure. Diablo 3 doesn't have the same ring of adventure, and will not last as long as FE (I am ofcourse completely biased).
Shogun 2 is a nice game too, but different themes, I think Shogun 2 is a really good game though, but lacks some distinction in the total war series. (and tutorial, I have no idea about sea stuff in that game)

Didn't personally play torchlight 2 or dishonored (I have a low budget) yet, but Xcom I did play (and alot, 48 hours after it was released I had 24 hours of playtime :))

That said, the point where elemental will win is the fact that you will polish it (Or I will come and kick your butt ;)) and that it can be modded, it will have greater replay value than Xcom for these reasons. Vanilla version of Xcom and Fe I do prefer Xcom
(I played the old Xcom when I was a little kid, so more biasing here).
But Xcom does not contain the level of easy modding this game... should (There are some bugs and quirks in FE modding right now).

I like the scores, since all these games have flaws and strengths.

Fe scores higher than warlock to me, since warlock lacks both depth, and a whole lot of other things... After my first playthrough of warlock I was thinking... Now I have seen every faction, every unit, and almost every monster, there is little more to explore in this game.
I don't have the same feeling in elemental, that feeling where I have explored most of the game will only come after atleast 50 hours of gameplay in the sandbox, and even after that I personally enjoy the FE AI and FE tactical battles over warlocks AI and Combats.

Xcom seems to me like a low budget game, and after I heard the background story for it I understand (I will spare the story for you to google). I really hope they polish the game, root out some of the bugs, and asks me to come and rebalance the game...

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Review the game on metacritics and vote for it on gamespot.

oh, and don´t talk about other games or  this threat gets nuked.

kesmai

I played and enjoyed the crap outta Diablo 3.  Not enough to continuously play it, I have ever rarely done that with any game, but it was still enjoyable as hell.  

Torchlight 2 was a bit more fun, but again, probably won't replay it until they release the editor then I'll play around with modding.  

Did not play Dishonored, so I cannot speak to it, same with Borderlands 2.  But I did play, and am still playing (yup, I'm actually replaying a game) XCOM Enemy Unknown.  It's just a great deal of fun (and aggravation).  

I do imagine I'll play FE multiple times, but I really am hoping it fixes the multiple issues being reported, and even though it's a sandbox game, I really and truly hope they work on the campaign.  I rather find it abysmal in it's current state.  And while others will argue it's not the point of the FE game in general, if they're going to include something they need to ensure it's in a good state, and the campaign (um sorry, scenario) is not.

Game of the Year...  It seems every Tom, Dick, & Harry has their own Game of the Year instead on just 1 de facto standard Game of the Year, so it doesn't really matter.  But the quality that a GotY should have just isn't in FE, at least not yet.

Game of the year? Not even close.

No love for Dark souls? I know this game is a terrible port but you can fix it with a couple of well placed mod's. I know it's a different type of game most here will like but honestly one of the best game's I have ever played in my 25+ years as a gamer. (i'm 34)

Diablo 3 isn't crap but it's a horrible let down compared to it's lineage and way to focused on the RMAH

For strategy it's FTL or FE for me at this point

- FTL

- Borderlands 2

- Xcom

- Fallen Enchantress

 - Legend Of Grimrock

Any of those I could see as GOTY for me, I have enjoyed them all about even so far.

I also liked Orcs Must Die2, Torchlight2, NBA2k13 and Dishonered as well.

The least fun ive had with games this year have been RE6, Warlock and especially Foregin Legion: Multi Massacre (just horrible).