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.

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

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.

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