What would you say is the GOTY then? Also, the stuff you said about Aralon (except the above average graphics) is total bullcrap.
As long as I post it, it's my opinion... and IMHO Aralon's gameplay is mundane. It tries too hard to be the "ultimate hardcore RPG" and forgets that simple things make a good game - smooth, unobtrusive controls, fun combat system (if I'm going to do it 80% of my time, it should be fun) and a seamless, fun experience (i.e. without unseen collisions blocking my way). All in all, it's a very unpolished game. Half an year and a ton of updates from now, it might become GOTY material. Right now, it's not. What should be the GOTY ? Hard to say. I'm split between Cut The Rope, Infinity Blade and Game Dev Story. The first two are unique experiences you can't have on anything else but an iPhone/iPod/iPad, the third took away a humongous chunk of my time. And all three are extremely polished experiences that reward me, the player, for every minute I spend in the game.
+1, Sure cut the rope was fun, too bad it only took 56 minutes to get 3 stars on all the levels for all the worlds before the most recent update. It's a joke to even call it a puzzle game. Haven't bothered to sync it back.
I'd prefer a reason why Cut The Rope isn't GOTY material. It ticks all the right boxes IMHO, and three million players seem to agree...
It's not one hour long, and many of the puzzles have alternate (faster) solutions. You can't rise in the leaderboards unless you find them, as the "easy" way to grab the three stars isn't enough. So, despite the apparent simplicity, it does have depth. Also, I don't care for depth and length if the game isn't fun and polished.
If you like other western RPGs and don't find Aralon fun, there's something seriously wrong with you.
I'll get the latest update and give it another chance, but my impressions after about two hours of play were that the controls were a bit awkward, the combat wasn't that much fun and that the game needed a lot of polish. I liked the graphics (judging by iPhone standards), the open-end world and the lot of things to do. Am I clearer now ? As you can see, Aralon is part of my own "top of 2010" list here: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=1508491&postcount=56 However, I had more fun with 100 Rogues, so it's just #2 in the Indie RPGs list.
There are several things wrong with your list (not ones I disagree with, incorrect ones), but as you said it here too, I have to point out this one, 100 Rogues is a great game, but not an RPG.
It figures that the winner would be the one game recruiting beta testers on TA and bumping the threads over and over, asking for improvements. I think Real Racing 2 would have won had more people known about the poll, and had the poll been advertised in that thread too.
I'm pretty sure it's impossible to have any kind of poll/election/whatever without people coming up with excuses regarding why the outcome was what it was.
