Contest Stats and Discussion - Part 1372 - The Last Hurrah?

Ryu is pretty strong. That's not even a bad place to be.

_SecretSquirrel posted...

BG3 might have a chance at being the second strongest game this decade so far, behind Tears of the Kingdom of course. Talk about the faintest of praise since there's maybe like 5 games that would not be fodder in an all games contest.

BG3 over ER would be pretty strong praise imo, considering ER is not weak and CRPGs like Larians previous efforts have historically sucked on this site. I'd be surprised if BG3 is on that level.

I'd be stunned if BG3 could hang with Eldin Ring. Having glowing reviews doesn't equal strength (ask Mario Galaxy), though it certainly doesn't hurt.

Galaxy > BG3 easily

Galaxy > ER too....I'm pretty sure...?...

if Skyrim can beat Metroid Prime, I think Eldin Ring could beat Mario Galaxy

I wouldn't necessarily bet on it (1, at least; I'd take it over 2 in a heartbeat, unfortunately)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1351-west-division-round-2-donkey-kong-vs-tommy-vercetti

DK's first choke job, but not his last

also this match would go very differently now

Kind of funny that Vercetti was actually a clutch master in his first couple contests.

Elden Ring absolutely kills BG3. Soulsborne games are decent enough here relatively to when they're from.

Especially now where BG3 is a PC exclusive but that changes soon enough.

FFVIIR beats it extremely easily as well. Could easily be more too, but yeah certainly not second best. Reviews won't change anything about how Gamefaqs votes.

FF7 Remake isn't even the second strongest game of the year winner so far this decade imo.

I had to look up the others, but remembering Metroid Dread then yeah, BG3 has no chance of being among the four strongest games this decade so far.

It might not even be among the four strongest games released this year...!

Yeah I think on most sites, but not really here.

Leonhart4 posted...

It might not even be among the four strongest games released this year...!

ToTK
XVI
RE4Make
…Maybe Spidey 2?

I guess SMRPG remake too but I do think if the word of mouth and praise continues it could do very well and have some standing power like a Witcher 3

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1352-west-division-round-2-zelda-vs-mega-man

What does this match look like now?

I remember the match pic looked like Mega Man had his Buster pointed at the back of Zelda's head at point-blank range.

LeonhartFour posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1352-west-division-round-2-zelda-vs-mega-man

What does this match look like now?

I remember the match pic looked like Mega Man had his Buster pointed at the back of Zelda's head at point-blank range.

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/sc2k3/sum03b48.jpg

Probably more likely to see the percentages flip than a Mega Man win now.

Is Ganondorf now stronger because he's in TotK? Maybe we can get all three of them in the final four

I don't think he'll get the same boost as Zelda, but he should be stronger.

He'll still get boned by the sprite round though, as it should be.

_SecretSquirrel posted...

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/sc2k3/sum03b48.jpg

Probably more likely to see the percentages flip than a Mega Man win now.

Another reason why we don’t need another character battle.

pjbasis posted...

Is Ganondorf now stronger because he's in TotK? Maybe we can get all three of them in the final four

Even if we had a contest now, I don't think Allen would allow all three of them to be on opposite corners of the bracket (or even have Link in the main bracket at all).

_SJimW_ posted...

How tf did Reitman make it that far

I know right

Also extremely funny that we’re in round 4 and Nolan hasn’t gone below 90% so far.

On BG3 people here are underestimating it. This is the sort of game that builds its strength as it goes on with more releases and more people playing it. The Witcher 3 style. Unlike a FF game which sells half its lifetime copies in its first week and starts strong only to get progressively weaker as enthusiasm fades. I’d be quite surprised to see BG3 lose to FFXVI at the end of the year, though they will probably both be in the poll with TotK which will make things messy.

LiquidOshawott posted...

ToTK
XVI
RE4Make
…Maybe Spidey 2?

I guess SMRPG remake too but I do think if the word of mouth and praise continues it could do very well and have some standing power like a Witcher 3

I am once again asking this topic to remember Starfield.

I mean I hope Starfield will be good, gotta see it release first.

I can see Baldur's Gate 3 keep boosting like you're explaining, but gotta see how it does in consoles first and how and if it keeps up. Currently I'd take it to lose to lots of stuff on this site.

I can see the negative reactions to frame rate hurting Starfield, especially since there’s no Sony release letting people give it a go to offset it

Kefka vs. Sweet Tooth, who ya got?

dilateDChemist posted...

Kefka vs. Sweet Tooth, who ya got?

We've never seen any sort of Twisted Metal representation in the contests. Sweet Tooth is a pretty good contender for strongest character from a series never seen before, but Kefka is a bit much to ask for, even if the only thing sure about Kefka is that nothing is for sure.

I only ask because the Twisted Metal TV series is actually pretty decent.

Should probably aim a bit lower than Kefka! Maybe someone like Nathan Drake.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/1353-north-division-semifinal-link-vs-magus

Magus was stronger than Sonic but weaker than Knuckles

But Nathan Drake isn’t a clown.

dilateDChemist posted...

But Nathan Drake isn’t a clown.

He hates clowns though

Twisted Metal doesn't sound like A GameFAQs game that would be all that popular here. Kefka and not looking back.

That Link vs Magus result is crazy. Magus is just straight up punching way above his power level.

As funny as it is that avoiding a doubling can ever make you look top 10 worthy, that result is crazy.

Is Magus the character that has fallen the most in strength ever? I think he might be (a darn shame that is). Even when considered he overperforms here.

Gordon I think? Draven doesn’t count (nor does L-Block).

Yeah Draven and L-Block would be judged by their pre-rally round 1s.

Gordon looked terrible in 2018, not sure he started any higher than that but I guess she was a good bit above at one point.

Vincent also comes to mind. Still like the Magus choice.

Magus was a fraud. This is like judging fellow fraud Mewtwo based on his CBIX performance. He was never that strong inherently.

Vincent is the correct answer.

Oh yeah, Vincent. Definitely fell further than Magus - indeed Magus showing Vincent up in 2018 is what confirms it I think.

Gordon was pretty good! He beat Scorpion in 2008. That was his peak as from then on Valve basically moved on from Half Life.

Right I recall Vincent losing with pic disadventure to Mewtwo in three ways but had forgotten about 2018.

As much as Magus might have fallen, he didn't almost lose to goddamn Magus.

Magus once lost to a bag of sand

2003 Vercetti probably breaks 70% on 2013 Vercetti.

For me the salt still flows for Crono>Vincent 2008. What obvious BS haha.

Man, Chrono Trigger characters were always a guarantee of some absolute nonsense being about to go down.

I made one single extra bracket in 2008 that had Sandbag as the winner because with L-Block victory and losing to ?-block I feared what a Smash joke could do lol.

I don't think it's a bad result, but rather an unfortunate one.

LightningStrikes posted...

For me the salt still flows for Crono>Vincent 2008. What obvious BS haha.

Man, Chrono Trigger characters were always a guarantee of some absolute nonsense being about to go down.

Nobody had the "clutch" ability like Frog!

Crono/Vincent 2007 was the outrage. Also, I still blame silent protagonist LFF with Link.

More seriously, I think the decline of the ASV started around 2008. This made sense given how much older the voterbase on this site was getting - if people aren't in school, they need not wait until after school to vote. Nowadays, Crono should win the ASV block against Vincent because the number of after school voters is vanishingly low (and they don't favor Vincent anymore anyways since FFVII came out 26 years ago compared to 28 for CT), and this part of the day is late night in Europe, which heavily favors FFVII over CT. With almost all votes coming from the Americas, the time block should be better for Crono.

I'm pretty sure Magus/Link was actually viewed as a disappointment on this board for Magus - there were some people before the contest proclaiming he was the best shot at dethroning Link because he hadn't lost to Link, or someone who had lost to Link, before.

For some reason, the 2003 contest took a three day hiatus after the second round, and I have no recollection of that happening.

ASV didn't just die because of voter base though, all the kids got smartphones as well.

_SecretSquirrel posted...

For some reason, the 2003 contest took a three day hiatus after the second round, and I have no recollection of that happening.

I remember this because he made a picture of the final 16 and posted it on the front page with the hiatus announcement.

ctesjbuvf posted...

ASV didn't just die because of voter base though, all the kids got smartphones as well.

Yeah, I'd say the advent of smartphones killed trends more than us getting older because a lot of us still work jobs that wouldn't have allowed many of us to vote until around that same timeframe.

Leonhart4 posted...

Yeah, I'd say the advent of smartphones killed trends more than us getting older because a lot of us still work jobs that wouldn't have allowed many of us to vote until around that same timeframe.

A lot of us work jobs that may not offer the freedom to vote during work on our smartphones.

The site's userbase getting older has affected trends, with the idea of an After Work Vote (AWV) being validated in several polls. Unlike the ASV, the AWV was noted to begin roughly at 5:30 PM Eastern, 3 hours later than the traditional ASV starting time. I first proposed the idea of an AWV back in 2012 with the Leap Year poll, and it has reappeared in the 2016 and 2020 Leap Year polls as well.

I never explored the implications of the AWV on the contests, partly because the match starting time has since shifted to 7:00/8:00 PM Eastern beginning in 2018, so I can no longer group voting trends into a proposed framework of the EBV / PHV / FNV / BWV / DWV / AWV / SNV. And the AWV from what I've noticed is much less potent than the ASV ever was during the time it was relevant on this site.

You may not be able to use them during work, but you're likely to have a break during your day when you can use it (or you can vote right before work). That's why some sort of after work vote would never be as potent as the old school ASV.

Did the poll start time really shift to 8 p.m.? I have no memory of this. I guess I have very little memory of the 2018 contest in general.