noobcubed

Since I have nothing better to do while waiting for XBLM to update, here's my take.

Patrick is a bro.

Hate that picture of him showing his teeth to the camera on his wiki page, though.

Silent Hill 2 was the first video game to make me cry, specifically the "Leave" ending. The ending of Metal Gear Solid 3 (as previously mentioned) was the second.

Silent Hill HD Collection

Undun by The Roots is probably my favorite of the year (still need too listen to Bon Iver and Let England Shake before I say anything more definitive than that).

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes is a close 2nd, and Burst Apart by The Antlers was also really good.

If Metacritic is to be believed, the worst game I bought this year (unless I'm forgetting something) was Sonic Unleashed. But of the games I bought this year, the one I enjoyed the least was From Dust. Because Sonic Unleashed was at least half fun.

Experience is almost always more valuable than gold, so pick that when you get treasure chests (unless you really need the gold, or the hero in question has already reached a mission's level cap).
 
Magic can win you otherwise unwinnable combat scenarios. So whenever possible, hire magic heroes over might heroes, and make sure to upgrade the mages guild early.
 
Don't pick learning, scholar, scouting, or eagle eye. They're almost completely useless in most situations.
 
Hoard resources. Flag as many mines as possible, and always pick up stray resource piles if you can. 
 
Stay far, far away from crypts, cyclops stockpiles, derelict ships, dragon fly hives, dragon utopias, dwarven treasuries, griffin conservatories, imp caches, medusa stores, naga banks, shipwrecks,  pyramids. They're more trouble than they're worth. 
 
SAVE. Like, all the time. Don't ever overwrite them. Especially not during campaigns. 
 
ALWAYS visit gardens of revelation, marletto towers, mercenary camps, star axis, arenas, and libraries of enlightenment. Any skill buffs you can get will help. 
 
When playing the Inferno town, put off upgrading your gogs for a while. Or indefinitely. Magogs are pretty much the worst upgrade in the game. They have ranged attacks with a small area of effect, which can (and will) inflict damage on your own troops if they're fighting the same creature you're targeting. 
 
Never forget to build! EVER. 
 
Resist the urge to build every creature structure as soon as possible. Building your economy comes first. But don't neglect to build creature structures, either.   
 
Building new creature structures should always take precedence over upgrading existing ones. In most cases, an un-upgraded level 3 creature is more useful than an upgraded level 2 creature, and so forth.

I purposefully didn't put multi-platform games on the list, like Viewtiful Joe, Beyond Good & Evil, Mega Man Anniversary Collection, etc.  I did put Resident Evil (remake) down at no. 12.  I already got RE 4 for the PS2, and PC (I think).