This has nothing to do with anything, but Raiden needs another shot at the contest.
---
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
- Darth Vader

Agreed, he didn't get a fair shake going up against Snake in round 1.
---
Not to put too fine a point on it, Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet. Make a little birdhouse in your soul.

Yeah, I'm kinda curious as to how Raiden would do against someone who isn't Snake.

On a side note, I have Robotnik beating Kuja. Go upset specials!
---
"Thank you, Mario. But our princess is in another castle."
-Toad in Super Mario Bros.

That was an awesome post.
---
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
- Darth Vader

I really should consider using the spell checker every once in awhile.
---
Not to put too fine a point on it, Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet. Make a little birdhouse in your soul.

That's just plain too stupid for someone such as yourself. You're trying to tell me that a game that sold millions is unkown to most of the people who'd buy that game? Or are you trying to tell me that they don't know of the first character who appears and is controlable in that game? Don't be rediculous, you're making yourslef look far less credible then I know you are.

Spare me the antagonistic talk. Most RPG fans have not heard of Vivi. Millions have, of course, but most US fans wouldn't have heard of him or be overly familiar with him. This is hardly saying something that should be controversial. There's a lot of RPG fans out there.

Now, saying that most RPG fans at GameFAQs haven't heard of Vivi would be a much stronger statement, and more relevant...I would be more hesitant in saying that. But clearly a significant number of the RPG fan voting population at GameFAQs would be familiar with Black Mages, and not with Vivi.

how can most rpg fans even know what a black mage is when most of them haven't played the highest selling game that features a traditional looking black mage?

I didn't say that most fans knew black mages and loved them; I specifically avoided saying that. I said a huge portion.

A significant portion--highly unlikely to be a majority, or anything close to a majority--of Vivi's strength almost certainly came from the fact that he was a Black Mage.

Black Mages are very, very popular; we all know this. To say that this wouldn't help Vivi, above and beyond his innate appeal, is just awkward.

You underestimated Vivi last year not because of some Black Mage factor but because you can't get it through your skull that FF9 is the 5th best selling game Square has had in the US, the region that counts the most here.

I never underestimated Vivi, I was one of his more vocal backers in terms of contest strength.

Plenty of people have played Final Fantasy IX; it is quite popular relative to non-Final Fantasy games. And Vivi is most standout character for that game; the "mascot" as people call him.

But the overlap between Vivi fans and Black Mage fans is far from perfect. There should be little doubt that Vivi's strength is boosted by this.
---
In America, men flirt with women. In Shinra Midgar, Don Corneo flirts with YOU!

"Most RPG fans have not heard of Vivi."

Then most RPG fans don't know what a Black Mage is, other than Lulu. You can't base your argument on the Black Mage factor by saying Vivi isn't known but Black Mages are when he is the second most well known Black Mage.

"I didn't say that most fans knew black mages and loved them;"

Who said anything about them liking them in that statement? What I said was this, out of every game Squaresoft has made featuring Black Mages of any real sort FF9 is the second highest selling. How can 3rd, 4th and 5th in that list help him out any? How can Lulu help him any when she hardly resembles a Black Mage?

"Black Mages are very, very popular; we all know this. To say that this wouldn't help Vivi, above and beyond his innate appeal, is just awkward."

Except that, barring FF10, FF9 is the highest selling game featuring Black Mages in the US. Doesn't somehting simple like that cross your mind and help you think that maybe, just maybe, Vivi stands mostly on his own and that he doesn't need the existence of other, significantly less well known/popular Black Mages to boost him?
---
Not to put too fine a point on it, Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet. Make a little birdhouse in your soul.

Incidentally, if we assume that 75% of all RPG fans bought FFVII in NA, which, while being a figure that I'm pulling out of my ass, is conservative enough, then that would make 4 million RPG fans in NA. 1.33 million copies of FFIX were sold in the NA, then one third of the RPG fans in NA have bought it. That's a significant amount, especially once you concentrate it all into GameFAQs.
---
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
- Darth Vader

And as we all know, if 1/3 bought it chances are half of them loaned it out to a friend at some point or sold it to a game store. There are litterally millions of people who know who Vivi is. But let's put it in perspective:

The most well known black mages (by game sales):
Lulu
Vivi
Dress Spheres
FFT Job
Original Black Mage
FF5 Job

And I'm not even too sure on the last two, but because of the re-release on the GBA I'm assuming that FF1 has more recognition now despite the fact that the original FF1 and Origins combined sold less than Anthologies.
---
Not to put too fine a point on it, Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet. Make a little birdhouse in your soul.

Still arguing about Vivi here?

Alright, I'd vote Vivi over pretty much anyone else in the contest, and I know a bunch of people who would too. And I'm only talking about people who never came close to a copy of FFIX and don't give care about any other FFIX characters.

That's the Black Mage Factor
---
SpC2k4 - Triple Crown Winner! (Spread Betting, Betting, Oracle)
SC2k4 - 12th place!

Then most RPG fans don't know what a Black Mage is, other than Lulu. You can't base your argument on the Black Mage factor by saying Vivi isn't known but Black Mages are when he is the second most well known Black Mage.

It isn't saying much that the words "Black Mage" (or "Final Fantasy Black Mage") would have a higher recognition quotient among the RPG gamer population than the term "Vivi" (or "Vivi from Final Fantasy IX"). Without concrete data you can't say for fact, but certainly it seems like what you would expect.

Doesn't somehting simple like that cross your mind and help you think that maybe, just maybe, Vivi stands mostly on his own and that he doesn't need the existence of other, significantly less well known/popular Black Mages to boost him?

You seem engaged in a different conversation than what I was discussing.

Certainly the majority of his strength comes from his own character via Final Fantasy IX; no one would think to say otherwise.

The simple fact that the correlation/overlap between those who would vote for him based on his being "Vivi from Final Fantasy IX" vs. those who would vote for him being "a Black Mage" is not perfect; and with an extremely high degree of confidence one can say that this results in a significant boost in strength for him than he would otherwise have. The magnitude of this boost would be highly vague and impossible to pin down with accuracy, other than to say that it should qualify as "significant" according to most definitions of the term.

Really, nothing has been said that merits debate. This is not a strong statement to make. Leonhart seems to completely dismiss the Black Mage factor; that is all I was addressing. It is highly, highly unlikely to be a non-factor. Because of the simple fact that people like Black Mages; and that the relationship between the set of people who like Black Mages, and those who like Vivi, and also would be willing to vote based on these traits would not be perfect nor close to perfect.
---
In America, men flirt with women. In Shinra Midgar, Don Corneo flirts with YOU!

Incidentally, I'd like to see the FF1 "Black Mage" enter the contest, seeded against DK.
---
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
- Darth Vader

From: King Morgoth | Posted: 4/18/2005 7:05:08 PM | Message Detail
That's the Black Mage Factor

I am not sure, but perhaps you are trying to say what I meant when I said this:

You can say that Vivi's intrinisic strength is what relies on him being a black mage; that this is a part of his core Final Fantasy IX appeal.

Vivi's character being a black mage would be a part of his intrinsic appeal. However that is not what I am defining as "Black Mage Factor"--by that I mean people voting for him externally to his actual character, but based on him being a black mage.

From: Shadowdude II | Posted: 4/18/2005 7:11:19 PM | Message Detail
Incidentally, I'd like to see the FF1 "Black Mage" enter the contest, seeded against DK.

I would presume this character to be substantially weaker than Vivi, since Final Fantasy 1 had no character development. Though I have no quantitative guess on how he would do against DK.
---
In America, men flirt with women. In Shinra Midgar, Don Corneo flirts with YOU!

There's no proof of this "Black Mage Factor" one way or the other. Let's wait and see how Kuja does before we discuss how strong FFIX is in a contest setting.

Frankly, though, I think this topic has a history of inventing odd explanations for happenings that seem to disagree with statistics, as is evidenced by the fact that so many people seem to think that Kingdom Hearts made almost 10% of the GameFAQs userbase fall in love with the Final Fantasy series. The only factor invented in this topic that I think is solid fact is SFF.
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http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=8&topic=20388161 - The GameFAQs Fanfiction Project, based off of the Spring Contest!

I think DK's consistant for the most part, but it could still be argued, methinks.

Just quoting myself from afew pages ago to try to make it clear that I do think Vivi's as strong as he is. There's several things one could believe on that issue about him, that's all I'm saying; my way of looking at him is he wouldn't be as strong as he is without the supposed BMF, but I'm not gonna venture a guess on where he SHOULD be since I don't understand the series as a whole (FF7 and most of FF3/6 are the only two I've really put any time in) or especially FF9. *awaits comments about my MH > Kuja pick*

I will say this though if it's got any place here in this subject; while people are thinking that Zidane would be dead-equal with Donkey Kong, I think Zidane would be more appropriately fit to go toe-to-toe with Knuckles...for what it's worth.

Frankly, though, I think this topic has a history of inventing odd explanations for happenings that seem to disagree with statistics, as is evidenced by the fact that so many people seem to think that Kingdom Hearts made almost 10% of the GameFAQs userbase fall in love with the Final Fantasy series. The only factor invented in this topic that I think is solid fact is SFF.

To be fair, we certainly have reason to believe many of our theories; I haven't seen many theories that I flat-out completely disagree with, and there's usually more than one way to look at theory-inducing situations so ya can believe what you want on most things. Of course, we all know this.
---
Serious Reminder: Vote for Dr. Wily in 2k5
Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy the contest-hype.

Let's wait and see how Kuja does before we discuss how strong FFIX is in a contest setting.

I don't think that Kuja's performance would say anything about this one way or the other.


Back on topic--
The primary thing about my bracket that I might change is the bottom half of the Ruin division. Not sure whether to put Diablo over M. Bison and Diablo over Kefka. Diablo over Ridley is of course highly questionable, but I've decided to throw my lot with Diablo on that one; the others I might still change.

The primary motivation for me to change my current bracket there would be Slowflake's risk-reduction strategy of picking the character more likely to get that far. M. Bison and Kefka are more likely to make the 2nd and 3rd rounds than Diablo. However, I just can't shake the feeling that Diablo is stronger than both of them.

There's a lot about my bracket I have little confidence in (the Robotnik/Sin/Kuja/Master hand fourpack, and to a lesser extent Wily/Ocelot and Ocelot/Bowser), but Diablo over M. Bison and Diablo over Kefka are probably the only picks I might change.
---
In America, men flirt with women. In Shinra Midgar, Don Corneo flirts with YOU!

From: creativename | Posted: 4/18/2005 7:14:49 PM | Message Detail
what I am defining as "Black Mage Factor"--by that I mean people voting for him externally to his actual character, but based on him being a black mage.

I'll agree with that, as your words sound much better than mine =P

Using your definition, I've often talked about "Black Mage Factor" when talking about the intrinsic black mage appeal myself. It's hard to figure out where the actual intrinsic appeal ends.
---
SpC2k4 - Triple Crown Winner! (Spread Betting, Betting, Oracle)
SC2k4 - 12th place!

I guess it's just me, but I haven't thought about the top half of the bracket any more than I have to in the past day or two; I think I've got a pretty strong lock on two perfect divisions there, personally.
---
Serious Reminder: Vote for Dr. Wily in 2k5
Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy the contest-hype.

To add on to Chichiri, here's some of my reasoning that FFIX is not at all obscure at GameFAQS. For one, that's like saying Kefka is obscure, yet FFVI is at LEAST par with FFX. Not to mention we could call nearly ANYBODY obscure. You're vastly overestimating obscurity. In fact, notice how vote totals frequently drop when obscure characters are involved, even when it's just 1 of them in a match. So, obviously many people don't just blindly vote for/against an obscure character.

Anyway, I think a bit differently than most of you dealing with Vivi's strength...I think looks alone won't get many votes if nobody's heard of Vivi. I think it's more about looks COMBINED with familiarity that nets him votes. (In fact, this would apply to many, many, other characters) Hard to explain, really... Regardless of Vivi's looks, you wouldn't really care about Vivi until you get to know him. But, once you get to know Vivi, his looks REALLY starts to have some meaning to you. Even after knowing a character, nobody can deny a character's looks still influencing their opinion on him/her. I guarantee FFIX players wouldn't be as fond of Vivi as much if he looked like Palom.

As for Zidane > Vivi...I doubt that would be the case. After all, Squall isn't very far above Vivi. At best, I could see Zidane matching Vivi.

---
"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."

To think that being the representation of something so iconic would not have a signficant impact defies sense.

Hello there, Wario.
---
"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

Just for fun, I'm going through each member of the Noble Nine's respective series and averaging out their GameFAQs review scores. This includes only main series games; no spinoffs.

I started with Mega Man first, because he has the most games. The number in parantheses to the right of each game's score is the number of reviews that game has on GameFAQs.

Mega Man- 7.96 (50)
Mega Man 2- 8.85 (52)
Mega Man 3- 8.84 (45)
Mega Man 4- 7.36 (36)
Mega Man 5- 8.06 (34)
Mega Man 6- 6.72 (32)
Mega Man 7- 8.03 (31)
Mega Man 8- 7.08 (26)
Rockman & Forte (basically MM9)- 8.12 (25)

Mega Man (GB)- 6.77 (13)
Mega Man II- 6.39 (18)
Mega Man III- 8.13 (8)
Mega Man IV- 8.40 (5)
Mega Man V- 7.50 (10)

Mega Man X- 9.34 (45)
Mega Man X2- 8.67 (30)
Mega Man X3- 8.31 (32)
Mega Man X4- 8.44 (32)
Mega Man X5- 7.13 (30)
Mega Man X6- 6.62 (42)
Mega Man X7- 7.34 (38)
Mega Man X8- 8.75 (12)

Mega Man Xtreme- 7.58 (19)
Mega Man Xtreme 2- 7.25 (12)

Series average: 7.82

Mega Man X=the favorite, and by a fair bit. Mega Man 2 is second, and just one hundredth of a percent behind is MM3.

It should only take me an hour or two to have a few more series up here, if not all of them. I have to do Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Final Fantasy, Chrono series, Metal Gear, and Sonic.
---
"Thank you, Mario. But our princess is in another castle."
-Toad in Super Mario Bros.

Vivi's character being a black mage would be a part of his intrinsic appeal. However that is not what I am defining as "Black Mage Factor"--by that I mean people voting for him externally to his actual character, but based on him being a black mage.

Yes, people like Vivi partially because he's a black mage, but to assume he gets a significant portion of his strength from people who don't even know who he is would be stretching it just a tad.
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"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

Call me crazy, but I still think Zidane would do better than Vivi in a Summer Contest, irrespective of how a head-2-head match-up would go down. And by that, I mean Zidane is putting up more than the 55%+ Vivi did on DK.

---
RIP: Tnote827 - 4/4/05
Fighting Illini (37-2): #2 in the nation, #1 in our hearts

You know, if Vivi gets the Black Mage Factor, does Crono get the Dragon Ball Z Factor? Is that why he's so strong? He gets votes from people who don't know who he is because he looks like a DBZ character?

Well then, if Kuja gets his Trance picture, he's all set.
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"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

Hello there, Wario.

I don't follow; Wario's not a representative of Mario.

I also wanna see more pics of Kuja than what I've seen as well as be spoiled on his character sometime pretty soon.
---
Serious Reminder: Vote for Dr. Wily in 2k5
Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy the contest-hype.

I don't follow; Wario's not a representative of Mario.

Surely because he's a Mario clone, he'll do well. Come on, everybody knows Mario. Why wouldn't they vote for Wario?
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"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

I have to seriously doubt that the "Black Mage Factor" played as big a role as some people would like to believe. There's no doubt it helped in some fashion, but it isn't a significant portion of Vivi's strength.

---
“Booster has such a nice place…I miss my fortress…I miss the good old days…Toadstool screaming in terror, Mario rushing in to save her…”

The strange thing is...If this were a Summer Contest setting, there wouldn't be anybody who would be giving Master Hand a chance of beating anybody above CATS.

Yet all of a sudden he's got a chance to beat Kuja. Confuses me to no end.
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"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

The strange thing is...If this were a Summer Contest setting, there wouldn't be anybody who would be giving Master Hand a chance of beating anybody above CATS.

Exactly. I have the slightest why there are people even debating this match. It is simplistic beyond words.

---
“Booster has such a nice place…I miss my fortress…I miss the good old days…Toadstool screaming in terror, Mario rushing in to save her…”

THANK you leonhart.
---
RPG Elite (777) Dragoon Choco-Mage
http://rpgelite.org/join.htm

Villain-contest or otherwise, I believe Kefka > Sin > Kuja and that Master Hand isn't all that far from Ness.
---
Serious Reminder: Vote for Dr. Wily in 2k5
Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy the contest-hype.

Also, Wario isn't meant to be what Mario defined, like Vivi is to the black mage.
---
Serious Reminder: Vote for Dr. Wily in 2k5
Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy the contest-hype.

HM, you're gonna vote for Michael Vick for the Summer Contest right?

I know you're pissed that he didn't make it into the villian contest.

---
Human beings are like rabbits: they're totally clueless, wander around aimlessly and reproduce like mad.

Don't confuse Seymour with Sin. Those two will be nowhere near each other.

And saying that Master Hand would be anywhere close to somebody who has support outside of Smash Brothers, even if it is Earthbound, is laughable.

And you know why nobody would give Master Hand any credit? Because, in a Summer Contest environment, he would be treated as nothing more than a joke entry who has no business being there.

Trust me. The voters won't treat him any differently.
---
"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

Also, Wario isn't meant to be what Mario defined, like Vivi is to the black mage.

Vivi doesn't define the black mage. He IS a black mage. That is all. Wario doesn't define Mario. He is simply Mario, evil version. That is all.
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"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

What I was tryin' to say was that Vivi fits the definition of the black mage, whereas Wario doesn't fit the denition of Mario's role. Shoulda clarified better there, my bad.

Seymour may be stronger than Sin, but until I see otherwise, I don't find it so unreasonable to still take Sin over Kuja.
---
Serious Reminder: Vote for Dr. Wily in 2k5
Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy the contest-hype.

Hello there, Wario.

A decent attempt at humor, but doesn't really have much meaning in this discussion.

Wario's strength is not a joke. And there is no direct allegory to be made here. For this to mean anything, Wario would have to have strength at the level of, say, Tanner.

Because "significant" could mean, say, +4% in his match against Donkey Kong; maybe 2-3% in the extrapolateds, or something like that. I fail to see how one can believe the black mage factor is unlikely to account for such a difference. The Wario example doesn't really mean anything in this direction, as his strength level swallows a large number of "significant" differences, if you know what I mean.

Yes, people like Vivi partially because he's a black mage, but to assume he gets a significant portion of his strength from people who don't even know who he is would be stretching it just a tad.

What you believe to be true is "stretching it", no matter what you say. Possible, but logically improbable.

Saying that Vivi gets a significant boost from the black mage factor an extremely WEAK statement. Saying that this is a non-factor, is a strong statement.

Though I don't know why I've been posting so much about this, since I don't much care. I suppose it's because I'm just surprised at this stance.
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In America, men flirt with women. In Shinra Midgar, Don Corneo flirts with YOU!

Well, continuing to underestimate FFIX's fanship will come back to haunt you. I've heard absolutely no good reasoning as to why either Master Hand or Sin could beat Kuja other than, "They come from more popular games, nobody played FFIX and those who did don't care about it, so Kuja couldn't possibly win."

Again, for as popular as FFVI is on this site, Kefka sucks hard in character strength.
---
"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

Possible, but logically improbable.

What? It's logically improbable to believe that people who don't know who Vivi is won't vote for him in a significant amount? Most of the voters were weaned on the Playstation Final Fantasy games, and Vivi was the first black mage they saw (speaking from experience here). There weren't even any FF games released Stateside that featured black mages before FFIX other than FFI and FFT, both of which didn't sell nearly as well. Or are you saying Vivi gets strength because of 8-Bit Theatre?

And why is it so hard to believe that Vivi is so strong? Because he shouldn't be coming from a game nobody has played? Because he could possibly defy the rule that the main character has to be the strongest one?

Wario and Luigi are both Mario clones, and they're middle tier at best, unlike most other clones who are relatively close to their originals. There's an exception to just about anything.
---
"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

I go away for the weekend and almost miss the entire topic. o_0

---
http://p082.ezboard.com/bxxcrossroadsxx
Visit The Fantasy Crossroads!

Phediuk, I appreciate your posting of all those review scores...most interesting. I should make a review of MM3 so it can be boosted ahead of MM2...*runz*

I can't wait to see the average scores for other series, too...

Just a thought: Any FF fan who's truly fanatical about Black Mages would have played the FFIX, don't you think? If that's the case, Vivi wouldn't be benefitting by his Black Mage appearance very much to those who don't recognize him, anyway.

---
"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."

Well, continuing to underestimate FFIX's fanship will come back to haunt you. I've heard absolutely no good reasoning as to why either Master Hand or Sin could beat Kuja other than, "They come from more popular games, nobody played FFIX and those who did don't care about it, so Kuja couldn't possibly win."

I do have Kuja winning that four-pack. Sin concerns me much more than MH. Not that I'm entirely certain Kuja will beat MH...but I'm be pretty surprised if he didn't win with room to spare. I don't think Kuja can beat Ganon though...but, I wouldn't say it's impossible.

It's logically improbable to believe that people who don't know who Vivi is won't vote for him in a significant amount?

Pretty much; some non-trivial number of those people should be aware of black mages, to an extent that it could impact their voting.

FFI and FFT, both of which didn't sell nearly as well

Final Fantasy 1 has a very high awareness level. The overlap with FF9 awareness would be high, but again, not perfect.

Or are you saying Vivi gets strength because of 8-Bit Theatre?

Oh my goodness no :)

And why is it so hard to believe that Vivi is so strong? Because he shouldn't be coming from a game nobody has played? Because he could possibly defy the rule that the main character has to be the strongest one?

Vivi's strength isn't really surprising. And I've long said Vivi>Zidane. I think that would be possible without the black mage factor too.

Ah, whatever. Vivi rules no matter what.
---
In America, men flirt with women. In Shinra Midgar, Don Corneo flirts with YOU!

Pretty much; some non-trivial number of those people should be aware of black mages, to an extent that it could impact their voting.

If they're aware of black mages, then they should be aware that Vivi is in FFIX and want to play the game, yes?
---
"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

If they're aware of black mages, then they should be aware that Vivi is in FFIX and want to play the game, yes?

Exactly as I said just a minute ago.

---
"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."

Any FF fan who's truly fanatical about Black Mages would have played the FFIX, don't you think? If that's the case, Vivi wouldn't be benefitting by his Black Mage appearance very much to those who don't recognize him, anyway.
+
If they're aware of black mages, then they should be aware that Vivi is in FFIX and want to play the game, yes?

Not necessarily...you can't really say that the correlation is perfect, or even nearly so. That is very unrealistic. (even if you limit the population to GameFAQs voters)
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In America, men flirt with women. In Shinra Midgar, Don Corneo flirts with YOU!

Not necessarily...you can't really say that the correlation is perfect, or even nearly so. That is very unrealistic. (even if you limit the population to GameFAQs voters)

I don't think it's unlikely to assume that somebody who likes black mages enough to vote for them no matter who they are (for whatever reason) would at least KNOW of who Vivi is. You seem to keep treating Final Fantasy IX like nobody knows what it is.
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"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

Have we had a discussion about the tiebreaker yet?

I put 61K. The major factors are that one would expect this to get less votes than previous finals; but also that the final will be more of a blowout than previous finals. So I think the tiebreaker should end up being from the low 50's to the high 60's.

But I think there's a chance that the vote totals will be way more diminished from previous contests that I expect they will be. Though with Sephiroth in there and (very probably) a Nintendo vs. Square/FF vs. LoZ match, it should at least have some drawing power.
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In America, men flirt with women. In Shinra Midgar, Don Corneo flirts with YOU!

You seem to keep treating Final Fantasy IX like nobody knows what it is.

Not Final Fantasy IX; the character of Vivi. And not just not knowing who he is, but perhaps not knowing him well enough to vote for him just based on his character.
---
In America, men flirt with women. In Shinra Midgar, Don Corneo flirts with YOU!

I put 60415. I just closed my eyes and poked at the keyboard.
---
"It feels as though the raindrops are blessing our victory." - Kuja
"I never trust a Frenchman." - Revolver Ocelot

For my tiebreaker, I have 66...yes, 66. Apparently I only put down the first two digits of "66,667" when I updated...now, I don't want to update it, as I want to take advantage of the early time I submitted my bracket. I'd much rather risk not getting a prize than risk not being in the Top 50, as it's much more likely to appear in the Top 50. :P

---
"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."