| Stats & Discussion -- Summer 2003 Contest -- Mark III |
| : | | | | | This Topic has been marked closed. No additional messages may be posted. | | | | Page 6 of 10 | | | | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/2/2003 10:40:03 AM | Message Detail |
Just
wanted to pop in and say that I was one of the few who thought that
based on Sephiroth's performance this year, that he'd beat out Mega Man
by at least 60%:
So logically, Sephiroth should also beat Megaman with approximately 60%-65%
Sorry, just wanted to toot my own horn there for a bit! ;D
When
Sephiroth killed Mario with 60%, I knew this match was over. Again,
going by Cloud = Sephiroth, you could see that Sephiroth gained 10 freaking percent over this last year! Thats just phenomenal
Cloud
vs Sephiroth is just one of those matches that cannot be called until
it actually happens, and even then it might be hard. They are the ONLY
characters in the elite that are from the same exact game(and even made
cameos in the same game) and from everything I've ever read or seen
about FFVII over the past 6 years, their fanbase is split pretty evenly
down the middle
The vote total will of course drop from all the
FFVII hate but I really think this match has the potential to be the
closest in the entire contest. People like me who enjoyed FFVII and
Kingdom Hearts will no doubt be split on who to pick, I know I am. In
fact, I not to immediately vote but wait until I see the vote totals
and then voting for whoever's losing. I just cant decide between them
and I'll bet a lot of people are like me too
| | From: Yesmar | Posted: 9/2/2003 10:55:17 AM | Message Detail |
Hmmm... why was CJayC so hell-bent on using the Wind Waker pics?
I've been wondering the same thing.
Well, at least the last one was really cool.
---
Evile Ninja Team Member
The wind...It is blowing.--Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker | | From: MyWorldIsSquare | Posted: 9/2/2003 10:56:42 AM | Message Detail |
Cloud VS Sephiroth Preview
You know, I thought this would happen during the 2002
character contest. But it didn't, and Nintendo characters dominated
that time, so naturally I chose a Sonic VS Mega Man final this year
and...bah.
Anyway, Cloud VS Sephiroth is pretty much a given
at this point. The question is, who wins? It's a damn tough call,
because being from the same game and all, they tend to attract the same
type of fans.
The types of voters who prefer the underdog would
have reason to choose Cloud OR Sephy. Cloud is the "underdog"
throughout much of FF7...constantly underestimated until he finally
beats the sliver-haired bad boy. Furthermore, being a better rounded
character, it's hard not to identify with Cloud, who has the same kinds
of mental instabilities and self-image problems that most of us
teenagers have.
Still, from a different perspective, Sephiroth
wins the "underdog" vote because he's never actually beaten Cloud, and
a lot of people would like to see the villain win.
How about the
FF7 fanboy vote? I think the fanboys tend to favor Sephy...Sephy seems
to be more idolized and he has a larger share of blind followers.
Still, Cloud certainly isn't far behind.
Bracket voters? I think
more people had Sephiroth making the finals over Cloud, so I wouldn't
be surprised if more bracket voters swung Sephy's way. Still, though,
yet another very close catagory to call.
New-school fans who are
new to FF but voted Sephy and Cloud this year because of KH? Again,
this vote is split down the middle. Heck, I know some kids who don't
even know Sephy is in the game (he's a completely optional boss fight,
after all). Others prefer Cloud's look and voice in KH. Still, others
saw KH as a redeeming factor for Sephiroth, because whereas the
masamune-wielder was easy to dispatch in FF7, he was really, *really*
tough in KH.
The old-school FF6-era vote? You know, the types
who love the FF series before 7? For some reason, I'd think most would
choose Cloud over Sephiroth, if only because A: Cloud has better
character development and B: Sephiroth is constantly reminded to not be
half the villain Kefka was.
How about the Nintendo vote? Well,
it would be mostly anti-votes at this point, but on the one hand,
Cloud's taken out Link. On the other hand, Sephy's taken out Mario. A
Nintendo fan is bound to want to anti-vote both!
For that
matter, Capcom fans are likely angry at Sephy for beating Mega
Man...but Sega fans are likely angry at Cloud for beating Sonic. Seems
like the anti-votes totally cancel themselves out.
So who's
going to win? I'll be rooting and voting for Cloud (superior, realistic
character development > inferior villain IMO).
BUT, I'm
predicting a Sephiroth victory. (Hell, that way I'll 'win' regardless).
Seriously, though, Cloud's really the underdog here, with Sephy's
stronger FF7-fanboy fanbase I'm expecting a 52-55% victory for the One Winged Angel.
---
That`s for Crono, you fatassed Italian-wannabe waterpistol-packing plumber boy!! ~ UltimaterializerX | | From: steve illumina | Posted: 9/2/2003 12:05:00 PM | Message Detail |
One Final Analysis from the Desk of Steve Illumina
Cloud vs Sephiroth...
My Bracket: Seph over Link, Prediction: Seph by 50.90%
My
World Is Square summed up pretty much everything I was gonna say here.
So I wont repeat it...nice job. And I totally agree with all of it.
I
will say however that Seph has the intangible known as momentum going
for him. Strong wins over all he has faced this year. Raziel, Max,
Alucard, Mario and Mega Man all fell by 60% or more. Cloud did not
match this feat with his victories. The 60% streak ends here, but
Seph's win streak does not. Seph will win a tight close final.
And
by winning it since I had Seph taking it all, he will end up giving me
a decent final score of 145/192, a better score than all but 1% of the
brackets if I have estimated correctly. Sure its not Top 50 material,
but hey, its not too bad to be in the top 1%. I look forward to finding
out for sure where I finish, assuming Seph wins of course!
---
Contest Score: 113/160 Bracket Final Match Pick: Sephiroth
"You are a failed specimen..." -Prof. Hojo to Cloud, FF7 | | From: Enoch Camas | Posted: 9/2/2003 3:05:44 PM | Message Detail |
Well.
I must say I'm impressed with Cloud and Sephiroth. It looks like a good
majority of the new voters this year are FF fans, which would explain
the success of Squall, Cloud, and Sephiroth.
I also remembered that a young Tidus is in KH, so perhaps that's why he did so well against Ganondorf?
Unless
Mega Man can manage nearly 90,000 votes in this match, he'll place
behind Link at 4th(rankings based on total votes). Samus is
5th(woohoo!), followed by Mario, who closely edges out number seven,
Solid Snake. Crono beats out Sonic for 8th(ouch for Sonic fans), and
Aeris rounds out the top ten. Squall's 11th this year. Talk about a big
jump from last year.
Fun fact: If Cloud beats Sephiroth in the
finals in a close match, Sephiroth can still rank higher than him in
total amount of votes.
---
"Do these huggies make my ass look big?" - Stewie Griffin
Vote Mega Man! | | From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/2/2003 4:32:11 PM | Message Detail |
Funny, I was about to bring up Tidus too.
So
he's practically on par with Magus, who got destroyed by Link 65-35.
Last year he was beat by Sonic 58-42. Did he improve? I'd tend to say
yes, but much less than Squall, Cloud, Sephiroth or Aeris. Why? Is it
because his part in Kingdom Hearts isn't big enough? I have no idea,
since I know diddly squat about KH, except that Cloud and Sephiroth got
involved in a threesome with Morrigan in between games. j/k... Okay,
back to Tidus. Squall seemed much inferior last year, but this year
he's pretty much caught up.
Oh, if Solar charged us a penny each time KH is mentioned in this topic, he could retire right away.
I'm
surprised that so many people here think Sephiroth will beat Cloud...
but they tend to make too big a fuss about revenge votes. Cloud losing
to Link 58-42 last year would make sense to me... But then again, like
I said, in such a match, numbers mean about as much here as Kirby's
hair color. Let human nature have its way... when they see a movie, we
always expect good to win (even though Cloud looks like a villain and
Seph like a good guy in KH). *hands Solar a penny*
That's why I
think Cloud will win the Summer Contest... with an Omnislash up Link's
ass! Man, that guy who made the Cloud vs. CATS video was a psychic.
---
Summer 2003 Contest: Slowflake (CAN) . . . . 122/144, 32 lost . . . . T-146 (38-way)
Today's pick: Sephiroth over Megaman | | From: Samberdog | Posted: 9/2/2003 4:54:15 PM | Message Detail |
Wow. Just about everyone got pwned in the last few days.
I
guess it's fitting that while last year's final was a Nintendo fan's
wet dream, this year's will be equally attractive to Square fans. The
parallels are a little eerie (Mario = finals 2k2, elite 8 in 2k3/ Cloud
= elite 8 in 2k2, finals in 2k3/ Link = finals in 2k2, final four in
2k3/Sephiroth = final four in 2k3, finals in 2k2).
Fortunately,
2K3's final should be a lot closer than last summer's. It was pretty
obvious that Link would dominate Mario last year. Mario just scraped by
Cloud and Crono, while Link destroyed Sephiroth with 57%.
The
effect Kingdom Hearts has had on this contest is astounding. Cloud,
Sephiroth, Squall, and Aeris all did much better this year... could you
imagine if Crono had had a cameo?
I definitely didn't see this
coming, but I'm a little glad it did (even if it does come at the
expense of my bracket, and the analysis topic (remember that!?)). It
keeps things fresh, unpredictable, and exciting. I'd say there's a much
better chance of another contest next year than there would have been
had Link won again.
My prediction on tomorrow's final? I'd
probably say Cloud. I've never played FFVII, so I can't really comment
on the characters, but he's the hero and I respect that. And, like
Snowflake mentioned a while ago, the thought of an NPC winning a
videogame character contest is a little offputting. Anyway, if I didn't
have another agenda, I'd be voting Cloud for sure.
---
... | | From: Seijun | Posted: 9/2/2003 5:05:45 PM | Message Detail |
Tidus
was depicted as a little kid in Kingdom Hearts. I'd think that that
would explain why he didn't receive as big a boost as everyone else. :p
Also, remember that Tidus's game was in the PS2 already. That's one overlap more than everyone else.
Okay, what else... oh right.
*waves Sephy flags to beat Cloud in the finals* :p
---
Apparently
Shion is more concerned with her weapon of mass destruction
appreciating the beauty of spring and the sweetness of a baby's smile. | | From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/2/2003 5:22:13 PM | Message Detail |
Thanks Seijun. I must've overestimated the overlap with FF8 and FF7 characters by a whole lot. If only I knew...
I still am in awe at what happened yesterday. It's like seeing Goldberg being pinned clean in the middle of the ring.
---
Summer 2003 Contest: Slowflake (CAN) . . . . 122/144, 32 lost . . . . T-146 (38-way)
Today's pick: Sephiroth over Megaman | | From: Old Master Q | Posted: 9/2/2003 7:14:38 PM | Message Detail |
I still am in awe at what happened yesterday. It's like seeing Goldberg being pinned clean in the middle of the ring.
I haven't followed wrestling since Steve Austin went out on a neck injury... but ..... did Goldberg EVER lose?
---
Done for in the Sum2k3 contest | | From: cyko | Posted: 9/2/2003 7:17:18 PM | Message Detail |
a
Final Fantasy 7 Final Match, eh? well, i said that if anyone could beat
Link, it would have to be Cloud. i was kinda doubtful, but it looks
like he managed the impossible. i also remember a bunch of people who
said:
"whine, whine, whine.... Link shouldn't be in this
contest this year because he's going to win and win every year. nobody
will be able to beat him. take him out of the contest!"
hah! he
did wind up losing, even with three or four times more brackets than
his challenger. see? a character can't stay popular forever. once
enough people wanted to see a different character win, Link was bound
to lose popularity. it was just enough to put Cloud over the top.
now,
who to chose between Cloud and Sephiroth? well, it beats the heck out
of me. i've wondered about this possible match for a long time. both
characters have absolutely crushed their opposition; Cloud dethroned
Link, but Sephiroth never reached below the sixty percent mark, even
against Mario AND Megaman. 0_o dang.
all i can say for sure is
that for Final Fantasy 7 fans this match is a dream come true. but for
everyone else, it's kind of anti-climatic.
---
"We're not doing this for money............ we're doing this for a ****load of money!"- Lonestar
Trivia 9 - Cheese Strikes Back | | From: creativename | Posted: 9/2/2003 7:59:30 PM | Message Detail |
Creativename - in that type of match, numbers go straight out of the window.
I think that this contest has proved that the numbers never
go out the window. It's all about the calculations, baby! The fact that
I've had the closest guess in the Oracle challenge 3 times in the past
week is probably proof enough of this :) Once I started adjusting for
Kingdom Hearts, every match was predictable to an uncanny extent.
Just
wanted to pop in and say that I was one of the few who thought that
based on Sephiroth's performance this year, that he'd beat out Mega Man
by at least 60%
I think most people expected him to win by
that much, actually. Steve is wrong here, this was not a surprise to
most in this thread, I think.
So he's practically on par with
Magus, who got destroyed by Link 65-35. Last year he was beat by Sonic
58-42. Did he improve? I'd tend to say yes, but much less than Squall,
Cloud, Sephiroth or Aeris.
Tidus actually stayed exactly the same, according to the calculations.
Why? Is it because his part in Kingdom Hearts isn't big enough?
I
completely forgot Tidus was even in the game. I've only played parts of
the game, but I do know he's not in in at all except for the tutorial
at the beginning where him, Wakka, and Selphie make appearances as
little kids.
could you imagine if Crono had had a cameo?
Imagine Frog in Kingdom Hearts 2... <drools>
once enough people wanted to see a different character win, Link was bound to lose popularity
Link's
popularity did not decrease at all, I can assure you of that. Both
Cloud and Sephiroth of this year would have beaten Link '02.
---
Frog must be in the 2004 character battle, if there is one.
Remember to nominate Frog in 2004! | | From: solarshadow | Posted: 9/2/2003 8:24:18 PM | Message Detail |
Just like last year, I've put up a Third Place poll on the stats site. Go ahead and vote.
---
Contest Stats: http://solarshadow-stats.tripod.com | | From: uncle5555 | Posted: 9/2/2003 11:47:34 PM | Message Detail |
Well
this is probably going to be one of my last posts in this topic, it's
been a wild ride this year. I saw my bracket take hits early on (due to
unknowns and underestimations on my part) then get blown out on round
three due to overestimation. I'm glad I entered this year it gave me a
sense of what I missed out on last year, but at least last year I was
able to vote for who I liked rather than for who I picked. (In a
perfect world I could do both.)
What to say, to say the least
I was shocked to see Cloud dethrone Link to go to the finals, nay
sayers or not, I know a lot of people didn't expect it, whether they
say so (band wagon jumping or not) it was highly surprising. Since
today's vote didn't matter (for me) I voted for Cloud as he is my main
man when I play the game, so personal choice nothing more.
I'm
going to wrap up with what I want to see next year, and not really
analyze my bracket or the contest this year in general and make a few
points.
For starters, the contest needs to be adjusted as I
stated in an earlier post, it is beyond my scope and vision as to what
that exactly is but something, to make the contest fresh (even though
it's only 2 years old) there are only so many *known* game characters
the "gene" pool will become shallow and the same characters will
continually make it to the top and it will be tiresome of the year
after year of same-ole same-ole.
I would personally like to
see a best game (not character) but game, I know RPG's (in recent
years, ie. 1997-) have taken a unheard of dominance in US and Europe
gaming which never had happen outside of Japan before FF7. So there
would be a bias like this year with a bracket heavy with RPG
characters. (I don't know the exact number without looking but I want
to guess there was about 10 or more from Square and other companies)
which in my mind made for a very shallow contest.
I would like
to see one year without controversy (I know I'm dreaming) but it would
be nice to say the least. And either CjayC needs to hand the reins over
to an impartial entity to judge the competition to take from any bias
that might crop up. Either that or try something new, my guess was this
year he wanted to try again to see if it was better than last year
(which in my view he succeeded) and create a "tradition" out of it, but
frankly there was not as much excitement and that missing something
from this year. Tradition is nice but overrated as far as this
competition is concerned.
So anyway the contest needs to
evolve, change, or become something completely different altogether. Or
in my bleak narrow minded view go away altogether, but where's all the
fun in that huh?
Well it's been fun reading everyone's
comments over these past few months and predictions and analyses,
Solarshadow keep up the excellent work, kudos for a excellent job well
done.
Been fun all, see ya on the flip side and hopefully an invigorated contest next year.
Cheers. =) | | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/2/2003 11:52:12 PM | Message Detail |
I like this topic and I'm bored, a deadly combination(wow, I wrote a lot more than I realized O_O)
In
order to continue to make the Summer Contest the best ever, the eternal
search for the best 64 characters continues. Looking at least year's
and this year's results, I've come up with a list of characters that
should make next year's battle(provided that there is one) be the best
yet. I think, though, someone has already made a similar topic, but I
have no idea where it is and if it still exists so I hope that person
wont mind me doing the same thing here
These characters are here
because they should get the most votes and in theory, have the biggest
fanbases and make the contest more intersting. So it comes as no
surprise that the Elite 8 from this year and last year(except Scorpion)
should automatically make it. Their epic fights have proven they can
stand up to the best. Though a few stand out from the rest, they are
all icons in their own right
First Tier(icons of gaming)
Link
Mario
Sonic
Samus
Cloud
Sephiroth
Mega Man
Snake
Crono
As
Kingdom Hearts has shown us this year, one great game can propel a
potential sleeper into a winner. Cloud and Sephiroth gained 10% over
the span of one year, theres no question that something like that can
make any of these guys potential winners
The second tier
consists of new and old characters that have done well in the contest
to warrant them being there. Some of these are surprising, as their
upsets undoubtably proved, but all are great characters in their own
right. Will they ever beat the first tier? Probably not, but you never
know. Snake seems like one of those characters who would have been a
middle tier guy if it wasnt for the release of Metal Gear Solid. I mean
seriously, what did he have before then? 2 NES games that most people
have forgotten? Give one of these second tier guys a starring role in
their own game, make sure that game is great, and you'll probably have
yourself a new first tier character. Or just give him a cameo in
Kingdom Hearts 2 :D
Another great thing about these guys is that
they are some of the most fun characters to watch battle. They are
good, but can be blown out. Their matches are usually full of
speculation and the results dont really become clear until the match
has actually gone down, or in the case of Magus vs Ganon, after it was
over. They can either be destroyed by the first tier like Alucard was,
or come close to upsetting them(Shadow vs. Mario). They are many times
the sidekicks and the lackeys, but are cool in their own right. Amongst
each other, few stand out as clear favorites. They are the ones who
destroy brackets and send people weeping, but a lucky pick can propel
you past half the competition
Second Tier(deserve to be here)
Ryu
Alucard
Aeris
Bowser
Squall
Magus
Shadow
Knuckles
Zero
Magus
Ganon
Tidus
Auron
Zelda
| | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/2/2003 11:52:44 PM | Message Detail |
You'll
notice that I've omitted a lot of characters that theoretically should
have been in the second tier. KOS-MOS was only defeated by Samus and
Luigi got 70000 in his first round, they seem like sure bets. I'll
admit, after these guys, the tiers start getting tricky. My third tier
consists of characters that could very well be in the second tier, but
are not definite yet. Some of them havent really been truly tested by
someone close to their status. Ken faced a first tier character in both
years and expectedly lost, so we dont really know how strong he is yet
unlike Alucard who was also destroyed, but at least he's got some
definite wins over lower tiered characters to warrant him being here.
Others like KOS-MOS, Luigi, Dante, and Yoshi have basically faced
scrubs until they were wiped out by someone in a higher tier. As Mario
vs Servbot has shown us, the bottom-feeders are not a good judge of
popularity
A few might be wondering where Donkey Kong and
Vercetti was given that they had a close match and seemed to be
decently strong. However, their fates intertwined and thus could not be
called true second tier characters. Last year, Donkey Kong mopped the
floor with a nobody named Bub, squeaked by Aya, and was eated by Mario
like a south asian monkey dish. Vercetti didnt blow out Kite like
everyone expected and ran into the 200lb gorilla known as Donkey Kong,
after which he was blasted and had his shotgun stolen by Mega Man who
promptly gave it up for something that didnt suck. Since we have no
idea how popular Kite really is, we dont know how popular Vercetti is
either. Thats why he's here
Thus the third tier consists of guys
who might just be worthy of fanboyish worship, or they might be duds
masqerading as diamonds. A lot of them played supporting roles in their
games, and a still others just didnt make as much of an impact as
characters. Theres hope for them, but these guys are replaceable if a
good game suddenly comes along next year and introduces someone much
more interesting. A few of these guys might even have wrongly been
included over a more popular character from the same franchise, but
more on that later in the Unknown Tier
Third Tier(they've got something to prove)
KOS-MOS
Luigi
Dante
Yoshi
Donkey Kong
Vercetti
Kirby
Jill Valentine
Claire Redfield
Scorpion
Ken
Wario
Kefka
Raiden(MGS)
Yuna
Now
we come to the lower tier. These guys pretty much wont win a match
against anyone, unless its each other, and even then they'll never make
it past the second round. I dont care if they've got a bracket
placement like Scorpion last year, they're toast. Theres not going to
be two of these guys overseeded for them to face each other in the
second round again, they'll always(from now on anyways) be at the lower
end of the division, facing numbers #1-6, whom they will surely lose
to. Going back over the two contests, we see that in the rare instance
where two of these guys faced each other, its always due to
overseeding; Pac-Man wont be #1 again, Jill wont be #3, and Lara Croft
wont be #1. A lot of them come from recently released games which just
happened to be popular enough around the time of the Summer Contest for
them to make it in(all 3 Animal Crossing characters, Sam Fisher, Golden
Sun characters). They're one hit wonders, they come in, make a big
splash, lots of naive people thinking they'll do decent, and then they
fizzle and are never seen again. Basically, just throw everyone else
who was in the contest that I havent mentioned into this tier, theres
no point separating who's worse, its like kicking dirt on dirt
Fourth Tier(completely replaceable)
Everyone else
| | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/2/2003 11:53:15 PM | Message Detail |
I've
named the last tier the Unknowns. As the namesake suggests, we have no
idea how they'll do because they have never been in the contest. I
think a lot of these guys can do better than the characters from the
contest that come from the same game as they do, people just didnt
nominate them for one reason or another. Sometimes its because they are
not the main character(but is way cooler) like Mewtwo, sometimes its
just a matter of preference. I took a lot of these from all the snubbed
contest polls by Pokemaniac Will and rewind2482 so a lot of credit
should go to others for their insightfulness. I'll offer an analysis of
each one to gauge how popular I think they'll be
Chun Li
M. Bison
Akuma
Replacing
Ken in the contest should be one of these three. Chun Li is one of the
first and best female fighters. Her style was different from the many
Ryu and Ken clones. She didnt have a fireball(originally) but her
jumping ability and speed more than made up for that. In the hands of
an expert, she can blind you with her moves before you'd have a chance
to react. Remember front + roundhouse? I hated that kicked, it got me
every time
M. Bison, the dictator of the fictional Shadowloo,
was a boss that had many slamming their controllers in frustration.
Originally called Vega, his name was changed in the American version
because the black boxer's real name of M. Bison resembled Mike Tyson
too much. Bison remains as still one of the cheapest bosses in 2D
fighting game history. Back and forth, back and forth he flew, use an
occassional throw, and you're pretty much set
Akuma didnt appear
in Street Fighter until Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, where he was a
secret boss and selectable in the arcades if you know the method. To my
knowledge, he was the first chracter with an air fireball and that had
many players scrambling to master him. In the storyline, he was the
evil brother of Ryu and Ken's master, who took the dark path of
Shotokan karate and killed his brother and now is hellbent on getting
the two students
| | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/2/2003 11:54:32 PM | Message Detail |
Raiden
Sub-Zero
Mortal
Kombat needs a new representative. Last year Scorpion may have made it
into the Elite 8, but he faced Kazuya Mishima, Max Payne, and Pac-Man,
all Fourth Tier characters. To me, Scorpion was never the most popular
in the MK series anyways, that honor has always seemed to belong to
Sub-Zero. Wasnt he the starring character in MK Mythologies? And Raiden
was portrayed excellently by Christopher Lambert in the first Mortal
Kombat movie, one of the only movies based on a game that didnt
completely suck. The Thunder God and the Popsicle were always popular
in my arcades so I think its about time Scorpion retired
Mai Shiranui
She's
from King of Fighters and she's hot. I mean, really hot. No, even
hotter than that. No really, think of the hottest girl in video games,
then make her 10 times hotter and you'll get Mai. I dont really know if
she belongs here or if she's even that popular, but I for one will vote
for her just to see her contest picture
Cyborg Ninja
Lets
face it, Snake was cool, but he wasnt the coolest character in Metal
Gear Solid. That honor is strictly reserved for the Ninja. While I wont
spoil he identity here, I can tell you that if there was one wet dream
MGS fans have, its to be able to play through the game as the Ninja.
Cloaking device, sword, super jump, what else could you ask for? If it
wasnt for what happened at the end of the first MGS, we might have been
treated to a Ninja vs. Snake battle. That'd be harder to pick than
Mario vs. Crono
Vivi
A staple of the snubbed entrants,
the black mage from Final Fantasy IX seems to me like he's got all of
the FF fans behind him and none of the hate. Maybe its because he was
so small and cuddly looking, or maybe its cause he fell down a lot, we
may never know. All I know is he'll do well in the contest, perhaps
even better than Aeris. If he makes any kind of appearance in Kingdom
Hearts 2, look for him to join the second tier. I'm dead serious about
this, I love Vivi, he rocks
Tifa
The ultimate question
for all Final Fantasy VII fans: Cloud or Sephiroth? Since that question
is gonna be answered in this year's contest, we turn to the other
question of FFVII: Aeris or Tifa? The huge breasted martial arts expert
was Cloud's childhood friend and always had a crush on him, though she
could never verbalize it. Her place in Cloud heart was seemingly taken
by Aeris, until THE SPOILER. That one event probably endeared Aeris to
a lot of people, but hey, Tifa's still there. What other girl would
stand by Cloud's side as he chased after ghosts, went out on a date
with another girl, and was turned into a babbling idiot by the
Lifestream? Tifa would, thats who. She deserves to be in this contest
more than half the entrants and with the FFVII machine backing her, I'm
positive she'll Dolphin Punch most of them into oblivion
Rikku
Is
Rikkus more popular than Yuna? While Yuna got the main character rub in
FFX, with FFX-2 coming out, Rikku should make up any difference between
her and Yuna easily. Her thong, skirt, and bikini costume
notwithstanding, she was always pretty popular with the FF fans. She
was the life of the group, the spunky, young female who was energetic
as she was cute. She reminded me of Yuffie, only without the burglary
and that butt-wiping motion that Yuffie always did
| | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/2/2003 11:55:19 PM | Message Detail |
Celes
Terra
Shadow
Sabin
Final
Fantasy VI, the game that is loved by the hardcore fans of FF as the
best in the series before it turned mainstream. All of these characters
are classics, but as Kefka showed, not all of them have a chance. These
six seems to be the most popular so I've put them here, you may
disagree but I'm the one who's spending an hour to type all this stuff
up so you're gonna sit there and shut up and like it! ....sorry, got
off on a tangent there
Anyhoo, of these four, Terra's probably
seen as the closest FFVI has to a main character. You begin the story
with her and a large part of it has to do with her in some way or
another. You only meet the other guys on Terra's journey. Shadow's by
far the coolest, he'll get votes for his pic alone. Sabin's arguably
the strongest. His Blitz attacks got me through many a battle and was
an innovation in RPGs that only battled through the point and click
interface. Celes is the classic villain turned good guy. She begins as
a Magitek Empire general but defects to your side. Her opera scene is
still listed today as one of the most memorable moments in video game
history and I felt the CG done of that scene in FF Anthology was
spectacular
Cecil
Kain
Golbez
Cecil the Dark Knight
embarks on a seemingly simple little mission to deliver a package to a
town of summoners and thus begins the epic story of Final Fantasy IV,
another old school FF that many consider superior to the
graphic-intensive newer FFs. Having already questioned his loyalties
after stealing the crystal from the peaceful mages of Mysidia, Cecil
quest will change him from dark to light and take him from underground
to the moon in search for the crystals. Along the way, his friend Kain
the Dragoon is constantly there by his side, unless he's being
brainwashed again. Evil Kain seems to me to be a reflection of what
Cecil might have been had he continued on the path to darkness. For
much of the game, they are a reflection of each other's best and worst
qualities. When they join forces in the end as you knew they would,
they are truly unstoppable. The man responsible for their opposition is
none other than Golbez, who holds a secret that Cecil finds out later
that shocks him. Maybe Golbez is Cecil's real dark side manifested. His
power and mastery of the darkness is similar to Cecil's control over
the light. In the wrong hands, it can turn men mad, as Golbez proves
soundly over and over again
Bahamut
Chocobo
Mog(moogles)
He
is the King of Dragons, the first summon monster to appear in FF(though
not as a summon) and one of the mainstays of the franchise. From humble
beginnings ruling a group of dragons deposed from their homeland to the
awesome spectacle of unleashing nuclear flare upon your enemies as a
summon, Bahamut is as quintessentially Final Fantasy as spiky-haired,
sword-weilding, angst-ridden main characters
On the other side
of the coin, the Chocobo is equally Final Fantasy, having been there
since Final Fantasy II. Always as a means of transportation of some
kind, the yellow bird is a staple of mini-games and sight-seeing the
large, polygonal worlds of Final Fantasy. If horse racing was replaced
with Chocobo racing in real life, I might actually watch it
Mog,
or moogles, were originally not on this list. I felt they hadnt been in
enough Final Fantasies to justify putting them in alongside of Bahamut
and the Chocobo. Mog was also not one of the main characters from FFVI,
so he didnt deserve it as Terra, Sabin, Shadow, and Celes did. However
moogles were in Kingdom Hearts, and we all saw what that game did for
Cloud and Sephiroth. So put in Mog, he cant do any worse than AiAi
| | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/2/2003 11:55:49 PM | Message Detail |
Kuja
Ok, last Final Fantasy, I promise
Kuja
is dubiously known is that "girl you thought was hot when you first saw
her but then realized he's a guy". I dont know, I still thought he was
hot. Why he was wearing a thong I'll never know, but he was one of the
better character villains from the FF series(as opposed to monster
villains which just sorta appear at the end or are huge beasts[like
Sin] that you never really talk to). Why should the world live without
him? Good question, and why should the Summer Contest go on without him
in it?
Charizard
Mewtwo
Pokemon, how the mighty have
fallen. It used to be that you couldnt turn on a TV without seeing a
pokemon, you could visit a hobby shop without seeing pokemon cards, and
you couldnt mention Nintendo without someone saying what a massive
success that Pokemon was. Well, Pokemon is still a gaming success but
like many things pushed onto the consumers, the consumers pushed back.
Backlash happened, I dont know when, but it was severe. Nobody plays
Pokemon cards anymore, favoring Yu-Gi-Oh! to the simplistic battles of
small animals and Pikachu's name was roundly uttered only as a curse
upon those whom you wished the blackest death. But all is not lost!
Charizard, one of the original and still loved Pokemon should do much
better than Pikachu in the contest. He doesnt have the kiddy label and
looks like a cool, fire-breathing dragon
Mewtwo is just such a
badass that he could do practically anything he wants. Conceived in a
lab by humans, he was supposed to be a clone of the legendary Mew, but
became out of control. He is the Pokemon Magneto, favoring his race to
rule instead of the inferior humans with the power to back it up.
Pikachu should be gone next year and one of these two put in his place.
Personally, I like Psyduck, he's funny, but I have a feeling he'd get
slaughtered
Proto Man
Hey, if Zero can do it, why not
Proto Man? Originally Mega Man's brother....well, thats really all I
know about him. I havent played much Mega Man since the NES days,
sorry. Feel free to come up with something for him
Frog
Ok
creativename, happy now? A giant frog who was turned into that by
another character in the Summer Contest, Frog is a cult favorite.
Personally, I thought he was just ok, but that may be because I'm not
much for amphibians. But I hear he's got a large following, so in he
goes
Ghaleon
Ghaleon, a villain from the Lunar series, is
comparable to Kefka in that he's got a large following from fans of the
game, but possibly little beyond it. But we'll have to see if he ever
makes it into the contest. Theres no doubting that he's cool and I
think the American voice actor for him was superb. He really sounded
like some arrogant punk who you just wanted to punch in the face. But
he's a great villain nonetheless and makes a great foil for the silent
heroes of Lunar. Unlike a lot of villain, he actually accomplishes a
lot of what he sets out to do. And seriously, he probably got in on
with Luna after she turned all evil and slutty. I mean I really doubt
that she herself picked out that outfit. Ghaleon probably had that
thing in a back closet somewhere just waiting until the day he seduces
a hot girl like that with his wiles. Yeah, Ghaleon is cool and he's
bad, who else has sex with the main character's girlfriend? Ghaleon!
| | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/2/2003 11:56:34 PM | Message Detail |
Luca Blight
I've
never played Suikoden but from what I've heard of this guy, he's
seriously a evil mental nutcase. I might even go out and get Suikoden 2
just cause of him
Joanna Dark
Unlike the other 2 first
person shooter main characters, Joanna Dark is someone you get the game
you play as. Max Payne's always got that stupid look on his face and
half of the people who played Half-Life probably dont know who Gordon
Freeman is, but not Ms Dark here. She's like Bond(and made by the same
company too), you wanna play the game because you wanna be cool like
she is. Not to mention smoking hot. She's one first person shooter hero
that should be in the contest and one reason why I've rethought my
stupid inclination that the Doom or Quake Marine would have any kind of
a shot in the contest
Id
Grahf
Fei
Why isnt anyone
from one of the best RPGs in the contest?? I'll tell you why, cause it
only sold like 100000 copies in the US, thats why. But seriously, if
you can get your hands on this game, do so. In there are some of the
deepest and most memorable characters in any RPG ever made. Though FF's
suffered a bit of a backlash, there is almost universal acclaim for
Xenogears. I'm not gonna tell you anything about them cause they are
just so damn cool that I wouldnt want to spoil one second of the game
for you, but all 3(heh heh) of these guys will make an impression on
you. Oh, and Grahf's theme rocks, try playing it in your CD player
while you're driving someday, you'll end up doing 100mpg before you
even realize it
Dr Wily
The eternal(well, not anymore I
guess) foil to Mega Man will always be remembered for all those robots
he made with cool weapons that just cant seem to stand up to one blue
bomber with what looks like a pellet gun. Maybe if Dr Wily made it so
that his robots' cant have their powers stolen, he'd be ruling the
world from some skull castle somewhere. But even though the mad doctor
probably has a degree in every engineering and computer field known to
man, he still cant make a decent impregnable fortress. How will Dr Wily
fare against Mega Man in a field where his own creations arent being
used against him? Maybe he'll win for once
Ryu Hayabusa
Pretty
much all of the top tiered characters are from games that people have
grown up with 15 or so years ago. So to find someone who can challenge
the elites, you have to go back(or make a cameo in Kingdom Hearts 2,
heh heh) many years. What great character can rise up from the shadows
and challenge the likes of Sonic, Mario, and Link? None other than the
holder of the dragon sword, the slayer of demons, and a freaking NINJA
that flips out and kills people! Ryu Hayabusa, winner of the Summer
Contest 2004! Ryu's got a legitimate shot at the upper tiers, Tecmo's
making a new game and if its good(unlike Shinobi), we just might see a
certain father-avenging, non-street fighting ninja in the contest next
year
Kerrigan
I think the only reason the Queen of Blades
has been overlooked is because this site seems to be a lot more geared
to console games than PC games. StarCraft is insanely popular. Hell,
they have sport-like tournaments of SC in Korea like we have playoffs.
Its got a kickass storyline, terrific gameplay, and memorable
characters. All we need is for people to remember how badass Kerrigan
was and we have a ready-made upper tier character. Or the PC curse can
wipe out Kerrigan like it did to Guybrush, Gordon, and Max
Anyways, those are my thoughts on next year. Suggestions, comments, and flames are welcome | | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/3/2003 12:21:36 AM | Message Detail |
Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to post an idea I had for next year's contest. It'll probably suck, but you be the judge
Since
the final 8 are pretty much gonna be the same characters, we should try
and extend the fun middle part of the contest as much as possible. By
that, we should make the contest a 128 character battle featuring old
new, and weird characters all fighting it out for the right to be #10.
Since one poll a day will take forever, such a tournament should give
us 2 polls a day to vote on. I think it'll be fun to watch all the
madness unfold with double the characters, double the battles, but all
held in the same span of time, what do you guys think? | | From: steve illumina | Posted: 9/3/2003 6:03:55 AM | Message Detail |
Very
good posts bud! And I agree with most of it all! Only 2 characters I
would add for sure are Sigma from the Mega Man X series and Sweet Tooth
from the Twisted Metal games. These two belong next year and I plan to
nominate them officially when the time comes.
But nice job regardless! And I like the double poll, 128 peeps idea...I am always in favor of more characters!
---
Contest Score: 113/160 Bracket Final Match Pick: Sephiroth
NFL Week 1: Miami Dolphins! over Houston by 14 | | From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/3/2003 8:54:57 AM | Message Detail |
OMG...
I expected Cloud to be dominating here. Guess this once more slams the
common fanbase theory. Then... why did Vercetti do twice better against
Megaman than DK against Mario, assuming Vercetti=DK and Megaman=Mario?
Weird.
Remember what we said about Squall vs. Luigi? The hypothesis was that combined with Mario vs. Cloud:
Cloud >>>>> Squall
Mario >>>>>>>>>>>> Luigi
But with Cloud's improvement, this no longer holds true, and the two relationships seem about equal with each other.
I
thought today's match would be even more boring than Mario vs. Link,
you know, same game being worse than just same company and all. But
what a show this is! And the pic was worth the entrance price alone.
Coming soon: every single character in SC history and their win counts (assuming Cloud keeps his lead, of course).
---
Sig update soon... | | From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/3/2003 8:57:27 AM | Message Detail |
Oh,
and I love the 128-characters-and-2-polls-a-day idea. But I'd like it
for the quarterfinals and beyond to be just one per day. Also, it
should start on June 15 next time, so it doesn't interfere with the
beginning of school.
---
Sig update soon... | | From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/3/2003 9:15:15 AM | Message Detail |
TOTAL WINS IN SUMMER CONTEST HISTORY (one-timers in italics)
10 wins
Link
9 wins
Cloud Strife
Sephiroth
8 wins
Mario Mario
6 wins
Crono
Solid Snake
Samus Aran
Megaman
5 wins
Sonic the Hedgehog
4 wins
Alucard
Aeris Gainsborough
3 wins
Donkey Kong
Scorpion
Ryu
2 wins
Lara Croft
Dante
Knuckles the Echidna
Squall Leonhart
Pac-Man
Max Payne
Jill Valentine
Magus
Bowser
Tommy Vercetti
1 win
Morrigan Aensland
Aya Brea
Duke Nukem
Pikachu
Fox McCloud
Ryo Hazuki
Tina Armstrong
Kyo Kusanagi
Bomberman
Kirby
Strider Hiryu
Tidus
Serious Sam
Crash Bandicoot
Ganondorf Dragmire
Luigi Mario
KOS-MOS
Auron
Yoshi
Master Chief
Zero
Shadow the Hedgehog
Kefka Palazzo
Zelda
0 wins
Servbot
Spyro the Dragon
Terry Bogard
Bub
Iori Yagami
Miles "Tails" Prower
PaRappa the Rapper
Chop Chop Master Onion
Guybrush Threepwood
Simon Belmont
Q*Bert
Kasumi
Gordon Freeman
Akira Yuki
Goemon
Abe
Kazuya Mishima
Dirk the Daring
Kane
Raziel
Little Mac
Pitfall Harry
Claire Redfield
Ken Masters
CATS
Ms. Pac-Man
Mr. Driller
Gabe Logan
Ulala
AiAi
Sam Fisher
Ratchet
Isaac
Ness
Conker
Sora
Felix
Captain Olimar
Wario
Tom Nook
Ramza Beoulve
Raiden
Yuna
Vyse
Kite
Mr. Resetti
---
Summer 2003 Contest: Slowflake (CAN) . . . . 138/160, 32 lost . . . . T-95 (22-way)
Today's pick: Link over Sephiroth | | From: creativename | Posted: 9/3/2003 10:02:59 AM | Message Detail |
Recursively Calculated Standings for SC2K3
These are the recursively calculated standings for SC2K3, assuming that Cloud ends up beating Sephiroth 52%-48%.
The
first column is the Rank, the second is the character name, and the
third is the % they should expect to get against Cloud. Sorry if it's
hard to read, but such are the formatting limits of this board :(
1 Cloud Strife 50.00%
2 Link 48.39%
3 Sephiroth 48.00%
4 Mega Man 36.93%
5 Mario 36.53%
6 Crono 36.48%
7 Samus Aran 36.43%
8 Sonic the Hedgehog 33.79%
9 Solid Snake 33.74%
10 Magus 33.48%
11 Ganondorf 33.21%
12 Tidus 32.61%
13 Shadow the Hedgehog 31.92%
14 Zero 31.73%
15 Aeris Gainsborough 31.14%
16 Bowser 29.97%
17 Squall Leonhart 29.16%
18 Auron 27.80%
19 Ryu 27.54%
20 Zelda 27.45%
21 Alucard 26.15%
22 Yoshi 24.91%
23 Kirby 24.48%
24 Dante 24.45%
25 Master Chief 23.06%
26 Knuckles the Echidna 22.92%
27 Tommy Vercetti 22.50%
28 Donkey Kong 22.17%
29 Scorpion 21.56%
30 Jill Valentine 21.54%
31 Luigi 21.39%
32 Felix 21.02%
33 Sam Fisher 20.40%
34 Wario 20.23%
35 KOS-MOS 19.91%
36 Yuna 19.37%
37 Ramza Beoulve 19.22%
38 Ken 18.71%
39 Lara Croft 18.63%
40 Sora 18.45%
41 Miles "Tails" Prower 17.51%
42 Raziel 16.85%
43 Fox McCloud 16.62%
44 Bomberman 16.33%
45 Max Payne 16.22%
46 Isaac 15.80%
47 Vyse 14.64%
48 Conker 14.34%
49 Gordon Freeman 14.16%
50 Duke Nukem 14.05%
51 Kite 13.40%
52 Kefka 13.30%
53 Crash Bandicoot 13.23%
54 CATS 13.09%
55 Pac-Man 12.87%
56 Ness 12.44%
57 Raiden 9.51%
58 Tom Nook 8.67%
59 Ryo Hazuki 8.52%
60 Ratchet 8.50%
61 Pikachu 8.34%
62 AiAi 8.15%
63 Captain Olimar 7.01%
64 Mr. Resetti 6.77%
---
Frog must be in the 2004 character battle, if there is one.
Remember to nominate Frog in 2004! | | From: steve illumina | Posted: 9/3/2003 10:04:57 AM | Message Detail |
Seph's
last hope now I feel is the after school lets out today kiddie vote.
Not that its much of a hope... But it is exciting and fairly
close...still anyone's match.
Interesting how the vote total with 12 hours to go is so low...definitely the kiddies in school factor...
I
agree with Slowflake about starting things on June 15th, doing 128
characters but doing 1 match per day once it hits the Sweet
16/Quarterfinals. We have to give Ceej the input when he asks for ideas.
Lastly...sweet pic! Best one yet I do believe.
---
Contest Score: 113/160 Bracket Final Match Pick: Sephiroth
NFL Week 1: Miami Dolphins! over Houston by 14 | | From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/3/2003 10:06:18 AM | Message Detail |
You should do one with Link as referential too, so we can compare with last year.
And
maybe you should have waited tomorrow for these... the numbers could be
a little different, and there might even be some overtaking. Though, if
you call this like I called Sephiroth/Raziel... <.< >.>
---
Summer 2003 Contest: Slowflake (CAN) . . . . 138/160, 32 lost . . . . T-95 (22-way)
Today's pick: Link over Sephiroth | | From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/3/2003 10:08:24 AM | Message Detail |
Now I think a Link/Sephiroth match would have been mighty close BTW.
---
Summer 2003 Contest: Slowflake (CAN) . . . . 138/160, 32 lost . . . . T-95 (22-way)
Today's pick: Link over Sephiroth | | From: creativename | Posted: 9/3/2003 10:17:48 AM | Message Detail |
Comments on the standings:
Possible
sources of error include matches such as Link/Fox, Cloud/Auron, and
Crono/Kefka. However, Fox actually did *better* (by a measly .7%)
against Link than the results from last year indicated he would do--so,
once again, it appears as if the "Same Fanbase Factor" is a complete
and utter non-factor. We thus have little reason to believe Cloud/Auron
and Crono/Kefka were affected by it. Though Kefka did do somewhat worse
(21% against Crono) than you would've expected Pac-Man to do against
Crono last year (27.9%).
One thing that surprised me was how utterly pitiful Pikachu was. 4th worst in the tourney? Is he really that unpopular? He ranked 38th out of 64 last year, which isn't great, but far better than his performance this year.
I
also weep on the inside when I see how many undeserving characters were
included where Frog was not :( There's at least 20 charactes there who
have no business being included ahead of Frog. Frog would most likely
be in the upper half of characters, actually.
---
Frog must be in the 2004 character battle, if there is one.
Remember to nominate Frog in 2004! | | From: creativename | Posted: 9/3/2003 10:20:40 AM | Message Detail |
You should do one with Link as referential too, so we can compare with last year
I
was planning on making a consolidated ranking from both years after
this poll ends, utilizing the assumption that Link was unchanged.
However, I'm going to be busy after today so I don't know if I'll get
around to it. I'll try to do it tomorrow evening.
Anyone know when this board is closed?
---
Frog must be in the 2004 character battle, if there is one.
Remember to nominate Frog in 2004! | | From: creativename | Posted: 9/3/2003 10:24:39 AM | Message Detail |
Oh,
one more comment about the rankings: it's funny how just like Cloud,
Link, and Sephiroth are clearly above the rest, there's also a bunch of
characters that are clearly below the rest.
The "Main Event" Tier:
Cloud Strife
Link
Sephiroth
The "Jobber" Tier:
Raiden
Tom Nook
Ryo Hazuki
Ratchet
Pikachu
AiAi
Captain Olimar
Mr. Resetti
---
Frog must be in the 2004 character battle, if there is one.
Remember to nominate Frog in 2004! | | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/3/2003 10:28:12 AM | Message Detail |
| So many wrestling fans here :D | | From: uncle5555 | Posted: 9/3/2003 11:20:11 AM | Message Detail |
Heh I said one of my last posts but not my last per say :p
One
thing after reading the last two pages on character recommendations and
what other people want to see next year as far as characters go is too
many blasted RPG characters, as I stated in my last post.
I
counted (just off the top of my head) and came up with 12 out of 64
which is 5% of all the entrants. Don't get me wrong sure there is
classic game and other genre's added as well, but when it comes down to
it RPG's dominate the selections, and frankly that sucks.
So I
don't see the need for more of a bad thing, with second tier back-up
characters from FF games, sorry but otherwise he better rename it the
Gamefaq's RPG character battle, simple enough.
I know people
what character X in the tourney but this thing needs shook up otherwise
we're going to see Link, Cloud, and Sephiroth going hand in hand each
going to the final four with an unknown in the other bracket, I think
you all can imagine how droll that would be after 1 or 2 more contests.
What we need is not more characters. (and 128 is not the
answer, who they going to pull from the Bubble Bobble guys, and the
un-named fighters in Bad Dudes, come on be serious) I would be
surprised if we could find 128 characters from today and yester-year
who are both familiar to old and new gamers alike. My dream is to see a
retro tourney with characters from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, but that
wouldn't go down because of all the console kiddies here at Gamefaq's.
So
there has to be an answer for next year but it isn't more is better,
and most definintely not more RPG characters. Otherwise we might as
well include Blue Slime from Dragon Warrior. :p =D
'Nuff Said. Cya. | | From: creativename | Posted: 9/3/2003 11:26:34 AM | Message Detail |
Ignoring
the fact that RPGs dominate FAQ sites, it still makes perfect sense for
this contest to be leaning towards RPG characters.
RPGs are a
huge proportion of all games. There's actually millions of gamers that
mostly play RPGs and not much else. This isn't the NES or SNES days,
when platformers and side-scrollers were dominant and RPGs were niche.
FF7 and the PSX changed all that. RPGs are dominant in the industry now.
Also,
RPG characters tend to be more memorable than characters from other
genres. They get more development time because console RPGs are
story-driven. Thus, inspiring more loyalty and greater fanbases.
Frankly,
the number of RPG characters this year was just about right. The
proportion of RPG characters will probably not change by much next
year, nor should it.
---
Frog must be in the 2004 character battle, if there is one.
Remember to nominate Frog in 2004! | | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/3/2003 11:39:35 AM | Message Detail |
Like creative said, RPG characters are memorable, they are the ones that stay with you after you've played a game
As
guys like Vercetti and Wario has shown you, just because you're in a
good game doesnt mean all the players like you as a character and
identify with you. They may just like the game but feel indifferent to
your character. My Joanna Dark analysis covers this a bit. She's
identifieable and likeable as a character, you dont go through the game
not knowing or caring who Ms Dark is. On the other hand, when you play
Doom or Quake, it doesnt matter who you're supposedly playing as. You
could be an evil escaped clown from a circus but as long as you can
wield a rocket launcher, then players will play that game
RPG
characters tend to have personality and go through some kind of change
in their game instead of remaining stagnant. People notice that, thats
why we need more RPG characters | | From: StopPokingMe | Posted: 9/3/2003 11:45:35 AM | Message Detail |
Cthulhu:
I'm
definitely of the opinion that anyone who could beat Mr. Resetti or
Captain Olimar deserve their spots in the contest. Thus I think that
every character you mentioned "deserves" at least a 16-seed, if only we
had that many low seeds to give out (except maybe Mai Shiranui, I've
never seen anyone mention her before). You did, however, mention four
characters who I considered definite "snubs"-- ones I imagine could not
just get in, but win a match:
Tifa Lockheart,
Joanna Dark,
Frog,
Sarah Kerrigan.
I'm glad to see someone else is on the same page as me!
With
all the FF7 mania (KH or otherwise), I'm pretty sure Tifa could win a
1st round match at least, maybe more (5-Yoshi vs. 12-Tifa, anyone?).
The others, if they were lucky enough to face someone overseeded like
Crash, MC, or Kirby, might also be able to get out of the first round.
The rest of the characters you mentioned would probably not even be a
blip on the radar come contest time, altough their inclusion would
please a lot of fans.
Creativename:
so, once again, it appears as if the "Same Fanbase Factor" is a complete and utter non-factor.
If
that's the case, then why treat Mario vs. DK as an exception to this
rule? I'll admit it seems to be true for the strong characters (good
lord, how dangerous would Auron be if he suffered from same-fanbase
factor in his loss?), but I see it hurting a few of the weak ones.
Everywhere it did seem to matter was where a character who had
no chance of winning anyway ran into one of the top 15. This leads me
to guess that these weak guys were only riding the popularity of their game-mates to get where they were in the first place.
Here are a few cases in point.
I
suspect that Kefka suffered from it, at least somewhat. You admit that
Pac-man would have done some 6%-of-the-total-vote better against Crono,
which is an enormous improvement given the way he was blown out. Were
people voting Kefka over Pac-Man, or old-school RPG's in the form of
the game FF6?
I also think it hurt Raiden--he got listed in your
"Jobber" Tier, where there's little doubt in my mind he would beat
Ness, Duke, Conker, Kite, CATS... and would at least have a shot at
everybody ranked below Ramza.
And while we're nitpicking, let's also
say it hurt Sora. All this KH effect, but its main character would lose
to Felix? get slaughtered by Knuckles? I can't believe that.
One
interesting thing to note: a lot of fuss has been made about how Magus
was a dud. Those rankings prove otherwise: he's 10th in the contest,
pretty much on par with Snake and Sonic! That's about what people
probably would legitimately have expected of him way back in June. It's only because he was stuck in the four-pack from hell, then sacrificed to Link, that he looked unimpressive.
Curious
that all of this talk about an "Elite nine" is bunk. Depending on how
you gauge it, there are either 3, 7, or 12 power characters. And who
#11 and #12 are... well... boggles the mind. You could maybe be
generous enough to say there are 15 power characters--and the identity
of #13 is weird too.
---
"You think you're right, but you know you're wrong." -- My friend, master debater | | From: StopPokingMe | Posted: 9/3/2003 11:55:41 AM | Message Detail |
uncle5555:
I've been throwing this idea at anyone who'll listen, might as well put it here too.
Next year's contest should be The Great GameFAQs Sidekicks Contest.
Think
about it: sidekicks have been brutally beat down in two straight
contests now. The best they can claim, as a group, is that Aeris made
it to the sweet 16 both years before losing to a guy who was
light-years away from having a shot at the championship.
Main heroes and Arch-villains dominate the contest, period.
Aeris, Knuckles, Yoshi, and Luigi are the only sidekicks ever to win a match-- their combined record is a craptastic 8-6.
Let's level the playing field! No main characters, no villains allowed.
---
"You think you're right, but you know you're wrong." -- My friend, master debater | | From: Teratron | Posted: 9/3/2003 12:01:46 PM | Message Detail |
Just
for fun, here's my idea for what I'd love to see for a character
contest next year. Instead of just random divisions based solely on
nominations, I'd devote each division to a gaming generation - 8-bit
and older, 16-bit, 32/64-bit, and current generation. With a few
exceptions, the characters would then go into the division for the
period from which they originated. Examples of possible exceptions
would be characters like Snake and Alucard who appeared on the NES but
really became popular characters on the PS1. A few of the characters
could be tricky to place - Link and Samus appeared on the NES and were
very popular then, but both have had their greatest and most popular
games on other systems. Still, it would help to create some really
great matchups. Just think of some of the possibilities: Mario - Mega
Man in the 8-bit division finals, Mario - Sonic in the final 4, Cloud -
Squall, Cloud - Seph earlier than the finals, etc.
Also, this
would finally let current-generation characters match up with opponents
they stand a chance against. It would be really exciting to have a
wild-card division where a character whose popularity is untested will
be in the final 4. Just imagine what the prediction percentages would
be in that division.
One final cool point, we could have a
new-school vs. old-school final. That alone would make the finals far
more interesting than either of the two we've had so far. Let's face
it, both finals have just been downright boring so far. I think the
biggest improvement that could possibly be made to the contest is
ensuring the final will be interesting. | | From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/3/2003 2:18:25 PM | Message Detail |
Yep
Creativename... you'll definitely have to re-do this list, because from
the looks of it, Samus is going to pass Mario and Crono.
Wait... I just realized what I'm saying.
SAMUS is passing MARIO. Wow.
---
Summer 2003 Contest: Slowflake (CAN) . . . . 138/160, 32 lost . . . . T-95 (22-way)
Today's pick: Link over Sephiroth | | From: uncle5555 | Posted: 9/3/2003 2:29:51 PM | Message Detail |
StopPokingMe,
I agree the contest either needs to evolve or die, can anyone here 100%
honestly say they want to see the same thing year in year out? I for
one will give less crap next year if it's the same old thing. The only
reason why I participated was because of the prize. Last year I
followed because it was fun to vote for my favorite(s). So unless we
see something better next year it will be the same dead beaten horse
again and again. Ad nauseum... =(
creativename, I see your point
110% however, RPG's aren't the only game in town, I've been playing
them for years (starting with DW1 on NES), but honestly I have to be in
the "mood" to start one because of the time investment. I'm not a
little kiddie anymore and don't spend 10-12 hours glued to my TV like I
used to playing. RPG's have there place but I honestly don't believe
they should overtake a competition just because they should or can for
that matter.
So unless you want a bland one sided competition
there has to be something new (Ie. Like the Sidekick contest, an all
RPG contest like I mentioned) or something new entirely if CjayC thinks
this can stay the same and be a fresh contest each year and stay the
same he is sorely mistaken. Like it or not.
There are alot of
good ideas out there, as you see before me, there just has to be
initiative to do so. And since alot of people want to see change it
would be nice to do what the people want (majority or minority) not
just what the console kiddies around here pander for. Let's just hope
CjayC has foresight to do so and makes it happen.
'Nuff said. Cya. =) | | From: Yesmar | Posted: 9/3/2003 4:28:21 PM | Message Detail |
Time for me to go out on a limb here for one of my nominations for next year:
Marina
Lightyears: Create a topic virtually anywhere on GameFAQS asking what
the most underrated game ever is and you will be barraged with people
saying Mischeif Makers (N64). As the star of the game, Ms.
Lightyears would the most likely nominee from it. Now, of course she
has a small cult following and a likely 16 Seed.
Now here was
the part where I was going to say she looked cool and post a pic. Well,
I couldn't find a pic, and apparently from descriptions I read she
looked unusual, but not necessarily cool. But of course, unusual
sometimes means cool.
Here's a description of her from another web site, not my words:
Graphics:
Not bad, if a bit two-demensional. Lots of color, with these scary
hollow-eyed balls. However, Marina Lightyears looks like a dog. Not the
sexist, gender-stereotyping word used to describe females who don't
rigidly conform to our culture's demands (I'm a feminist; can ya
tell?); the character actually resembles a white basset hound, with big
floppy ears an' all. Try to picture a female vampiric Goofy. OK, now
imagine a two-demensional version of that, with big scary eye sockets.
That's Marina Lightyears, folks. And, classically Japanese, none of the
characters' words fit in with their mouth movements.
And here's a pic of the Box Art with her on the cover:
http://tinyurl.com/m5nc
And two other reasons why she kicks ass (giggles):
1) She has an ugly evil clone.
2) She can just pick up and throw around everybody in the game she damn well wants to.
---
Evile Ninja Team Member
The wind...It is blowing.--Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker | | From: Haste2 | Posted: 9/3/2003 9:51:09 PM | Message Detail |
Well,
the only reason Pikachu did so much worse was because nearly all the
very weak characters from 2002 were not included this year....and
probably a little splitting of fanbases, as well. (How else could
Pikachu do only 11% [arithmetic-wise] worse against Fox than Cloud?).
Slowflake,
from your list I notice that Alucard has gotten 4 wins...while Tails
hasn't had any. Alucard got, what, 53-54% against Tails? Looks a little
unfair in some characters' competition, if you ask me. :[
On top
of Bomberman's change in performance, I'd say Tidus had a major growth
as well in popularity...seeing how he's barely behind Sonic in
uncreative...I mean, creativename's (just kidding! ^_^) list while he
was beaten sufficiently by Sonic last year. (Of course, Sonic could
have had a decrease in support as well...but probably not, judging from
his win against Ken.) I'd say Samus increased in popularity as well,
doing so much better in the divisional finals than Sonic did. Hm, and
thank you for putting Ratchet in as one of the "worthless" characters.
As
for tourney ideas, I say it would be interesting if there was some of
of "seed-handicap" tourney...basically the same as normal EXCEPT that
the lower seeded characters get extra votes to help them depending on
how high or low their seed is...so a 16 seed would get far more votes
than a 1 seed. Perhaps 3,000 auto-votes (or maybe a certain % advantage
to discourage mass cheating) for every seed you go down...in this way,
some major underdogs could end up doing extremely well. I really like
the old-school/new-school idea, as well. A Sidekicks contest would also
rule, but man, there would be some really tough predictions. =p
(challenge = good)
But whatever happens, I hope next year's is
not a "Great Game Contest". Zelda: Ocarina of Time vs. Final Fantasy
VII for finals... ick.
You know what sucks for me? I had Cloud
vs. Sephiroth as the final in LAST year's bracket. Maybe I would've won
it all if the "2002 Contest" took place this year...
---
"Ah, a party! We haven't had one of those. It could be fun! So...what is a party?"
"Well, you drink punch and eat CAKE! ...I think." | | From: Seijun | Posted: 9/3/2003 10:14:33 PM | Message Detail |
As
for tourney ideas, I say it would be interesting if there was some of
of "seed-handicap" tourney...basically the same as normal EXCEPT that
the lower seeded characters get extra votes to help them depending on
how high or low their seed is...so a 16 seed would get far more votes
than a 1 seed.
*looks at some of the lower seeds this year*
...Magus, Ganondorf, Aeris and Zelda with the handicap rule. *shudders*
---
Apparently
Shion is more concerned with her weapon of mass destruction
appreciating the beauty of spring and the sweetness of a baby's smile. | | From: Cthulhu | Posted: 9/3/2003 10:57:28 PM | Message Detail |
| Maybe CJ can go around randomly deleting votes | | From: torey luvullo | Posted: 9/4/2003 4:35:24 AM | Message Detail |
so
far today, "yes i can hardly wait" is leading the POTD asking whether
there should be another character battle next summer, with a plurality
of 37%.
| | From: creativename | Posted: 9/4/2003 4:41:43 AM | Message Detail |
I'd say Tidus had a major growth as well in popularity
Actually, Tidus was at the same level as last year. He was the 11th most popular character last year.
I
even made a series of posts before Tidus vs. Ganondorf even faced off,
that the undderrating of Tidus would lead to and underrating of Ganon
and Magus. Which, of course, I was quite correct on. </bragging>
I'd say Samus increased in popularity as well
Samus appeared to go down, if anything, though most likely she was also the same. I'll try and post more data this evening.
SAMUS is passing MARIO. Wow
She finished well ahead of Mario last year in these standings.
Though,
looking back on last year's Recursively Calculated results, it doesn't
appear as though Mario's half of the bracket was underrated; rather, it
seems Sephiroth's was slightly overrated, for whatever reason. I'll try
analysing this more later.
---
Frog must be in the 2004 character battle, if there is one.
Remember to nominate Frog in 2004! | | From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/4/2003 5:38:29 AM | Message Detail |
*sigh*
It's all over, and I feel the same way as last year... like, there
isn't anything to look forward to anymore. And unlike last year, my
favorites were all booted early. Plus, I was this close from the
money... to think, I would've WON had I picked Cloud instead of Link
(but so would have many people), and in the top 10 if Link won. Instead
I'm tied for 1237th. Blargh.
Cloud will seem to be even more
unbeatable next year than Link this year... but the REALLY funny thing
is, I never expected we'd end up having a champion who was losing to a
16-seed, even if it lasted only a mere minute or two.
An NPC finding himself a few thousands of votes away from the championship... I'm still smiling at the scenario.
On
another subject, when you think hard about it, Sonic was insanely lucky
to make it to the Elite 8. I knew Sonic wouldn't get 60% when I made my
bracket, but then it looks as though he would have done it against the
2002 Aeris. And let's not even talk about Zero... only Magus was
slightly better than him among the newcomers.
Seeing the results
of Cloud vs. Sonic... it can be concluded that Cloud would have beaten
Aeris 70-30, the common fanbase thing being a huge dud apparently.
Cloud cut down Auron 72-28... could Aeris have beaten Auron? Probably,
but I don't see a match between the two being as tight as the numbers
suggest. You never know though...
Speaking of Auron, he lost to
Cloud by 2 more points than Alucard and did 10 points better against
Tails than Alucard. This alone screams that Cloud improved massively
over last year, though at the time we put the blame on the common
fanbase. These two are similar anyway... just look at their profiles!
I
mentioned that Bowser vs. Alucard looked like a close race back then...
seeing how the Clouds they faced are totally different, Bowser could
probably beat Alucard rather easily (and Yoshi could too). Same for
Auron.
Who was the #2 villain behind Sephiroth? Magus?
Ganondorf? Bowser? (These four should be the top seeds in a villain
contest!) I'd be inclined to say Magus, since he beat Ganondorf. And
looking at how Magus and Bowser did in round 3, Magus, although
defeated by a weaker opponent (I never thought I'd ever describe Link
like that), did much better than Bowser. It's not by big... also,
Ganondorf seems to have outperformed Bowser too, crystallizing LoZ as
the top Nintendo franchise on GameFAQs. Zelda also did better than the
rest of the Mario supporting cast... Megaman is definitely more
powerful than Squall, Bowser and Shadow.
Another point of
interest... Mario vs. Samus could be THE bracket-buster if it happens
next year. First, both are very close in Creativename's list. Then you
have the 2002 Samus vs. Sephiroth match, where Samus barely lost. Now
she's a few points ahead of Sonic... the few points she could have used
to beat the 2002 form of Sephiroth. Assuming Cloud = Sephiroth and
knowing that 2002 Cloud = Mario, 2003 Samus could have competed equally
with all of them. Also, both pulled similar numbers against Link...
with a slight advantage for Samus.
I'm still in awe at how
Shadow performed... him being as popular as Sonic after just one game
doesn't quite hold up. Of course, the same holds true for Mario and
Crono, but for some reason Shadow = Sonic doesn't make sense.
After
Magus got beaten up badly by Link, many though he was trailing badly
behind Crono. However, with the common fanbase being a non-factor,
Mario only got a few points on him... and of course, so does Crono. If
Frog is in next year, expect some surprises from CT's own Mr. Thou.
---
If
Kefka were governor of California, he'd kill half the population to
solve the power problem, then 98% of what's left for the hell of it.
-GoldManiac | | From: Slowflake | Posted: 9/4/2003 5:38:46 AM | Message Detail |
Speaking
of next year, Cloud (and Sephiroth) basically saved the possibility of
it happening from a contest point of view. However, board issues are
what might prevent a Character Battle III, or any other contest for
that matter, from happening ever again. Why? While the board was
generally more civilized than last year in terms of fanboyism, there's
the issue of account suicides... it became like a second LUE. So if
there isn't a Summer 2004 contest, you know who to blame. Wylvane.
(CJayC took action by imposing a level 15 restriction... but as
Bigbear's suicide showed, you can still suicide a 2-karma account. The
restriction should be level 20...)
Man, is it going to feel
weird, falling from the second biggest board on the site to a plain old
regular one. And since your presence has no chance to survive make its
time (hey, not me, I'm staying), I wanted to say a big thank you to
everyone here, readers, lurkers, heck, everyone on the board. Except a
nameless one who doesn't desve it.
So until the first spark of activity in the newly renamed board lights up at the end of next May, so long.
SEE YOU NEXT MISSION
---
If
Kefka were governor of California, he'd kill half the population to
solve the power problem, then 98% of what's left for the hell of it.
-GoldManiac | | Jump to Page: | | | | | 6 | | | | |
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