ehh... FF =/= Strong. Heh heh.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

Nobody likes Auron in Auron/Gdorf? I know the Spring disproved the ridiculous theories about a Magus overperformance, but Auron is still a force who we don't have good data on.

Agreed. I really don't know yet. :-(
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PETITION: Ability to preview contests to moderators before posting it. http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=7&topic=19643565 (189 Signs!)

When was the last time an optional character for whom you need to complete a sidequest to get any story what-so-ever about said character, performed well in a contest?

If it were anybody but Vincent, I might be inclined to concede this point. It's ridiculous that people believe this matters because "Oh, I missed him on my first playthrough because I didn't use a guide." Yeah, but you know how to get him now, don't you? People KNOW who Vincent is, folks. Hard to believe that the most popular game on this site would have a character that nobody knows about. What's the name of this site? GameFAQs. There ARE guides on Final Fantasy VII here, you know.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

When was the last time an optional character for whom you need to complete a sidequest to get any story what-so-ever about said character, performed well in a contest?

It doesn't matter how much you want to bring that up, you simply cannot ignore that he comes from an immensely popular game and is not that hard to acquire at all. His story and personality don't matter either.

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“Yeah, sure. I always see it. But… who cares? I speak with passion, from the heart! That’s what matters most.”
Laguna Loire

Vincent isn't even that hard to get in the game. And you get him fairly early in the game (unlike most optional characters) so players have a lot of time to like Vincent more. I can see why he is one of the more well liked characters in that game, even if he is optional.

And being that he is from FFVII, the biggest game on this site, he has a lot of potential to break brackets. It's true that he probably SHOULDN'T be as strong as some people are making him out to be. But then again, before these contests I would have never believed that Sephiroth would be as popular as he is. I don't like Sephiroth at ALL and he's a powerhouse. I don't like Vincent either, but that doesn't stop him from being popular. So I'm keeping an open mind about Vincent. He's a special case.
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Graduation: April 30, 2005 "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

Alrighty. I haven't read any stats/analysis topics yet, and I just saw the bracket for the first time today. Let's see how what I think stacks up against conventional wisdom...

Oh, hell yes, Kratos Aurion is in this.

With that fanboyism out of the way...

So, Joanna Dark is the first sacrifice this time around. Shame. Her game seemed good, and I'm kind of desperate for more female characters in fanfics.

Man, CJ's gonna kill Ness.

Zero over Ryu, too. And Lloyd over Wesker, easy. First division's a piece of cake. Mario over CJ, Zero over Lloyd, and Mario over Zero.

Yuri from Shadow Hearts got in? Good for him. It's good to see the lesser known series (that get such press on these boards) do well.

Frog vs. Riku. Is this supposed to be close? Man, I'm hopin it improves from here.

Ganondorf vs. Yuna... If, for nothing else, this is a good match for purposes of fanfiction. Man, how convenient.

It's a shame Big Boss got stuck against Auron. He could have been a contender given the right opponent. All that's interesting in this match is "How close does he get to Auron?"

Auron vs. Ganondorf in round 2. MAN, that's gonna be good.

Vivi vs. Zelda. Not bad. Zelda'll win, though.

Alucard vs. Kratos. Why do I get the feeling that Kratos from God of War is going to be this year's Ryu Hayabusa? He has one game that gets some nice press and tops the FAQ lists for a while, and then everyone overestimates him. I'm 99% confident in Alucard here. Somehow, I'm sensing that people will be going the other way.

Who the **** is Agent 47?

Hmm. The later rounds in this division are a bit evil. Snake vs. Zelda? I seem to remember a large number of debates about that one, heh. And Alucard vs. Sora should be good, too. My instincts say Sora, but Alucard is reasonably close to him in strength, and look how much Sora bombed in 2k3... and Ansem bombed in the spring. Of course, the winner of that loses to Snake, but this one could still be a doozy.

Kirby vs. Cecil... Pity. I liked Cecil, too. And I never liked Kirby. Seeing him as a one seed offends the fanfic writer in me.

Hey, it's the King! Gee, I never noticed how similar the King of all Cosmos and the Burger King are in appearance. No matter, though, Tidus still wins. And then Tidus vs. Kirby... Man, never thought I'd be rooting for Tidus in a SC match. But as Tidus has begun to grow on me, I'm pullin for him here.

In any case, I think Tidus has it all but sewn up against Kirby. If I remember correctly, Squall beat the puffball bout 55-45... doubt Tidus is that much weaker. If he's weaker at all.

Pity Chun-Li got stuck against Bowser. Like Big Boss, she could have been a bracket buster in the right setting. Hell, Chun-Li vs. Big Boss would have been a nice match.

Another chick. Cool. I like Rikku more than most here, so I'm not too angry. But this match won't be a close one, unfortunately.

Later rounds here look pretty good too. Bowser vs. Ryu is a toss-up. And the winner of that vs. Tidus is a toss up. And hell, the winner of that vs. Snake is a toss up. I've gotta give props to Ceej for this zone of the bracket.

ALL YOUR XBOX ARE BELONG TO US.

DK's back in round two. That's good to see. Pity, he's fallen so far from the DKC days.

Kefka vs. Vercetti. Wow. And Vercetti might win. I hope he does, too... That'd be awesome to write.

And here's Crono... And Zidane? Man, Ceej hates me. Personalitiless drone against my favorite FF lead. And Crono being here makes the division so cut-and-dry too. Pity. But it'll be interesting to see how much of a run MC can give Crono. Not much, I'm thinking.

If it were anybody but Vincent, I might be inclined to concede this point. It's ridiculous that people believe this matters because "Oh, I missed him on my first playthrough because I didn't use a guide." Yeah, but you know how to get him now, don't you? People KNOW who Vincent is, folks. Hard to believe that the most popular game on this site would have a character that nobody knows about. What's the name of this site? GameFAQs. There ARE guides on Final Fantasy VII here, you know.

I acknowlegde the fact that many people know who Vincent is, however, I'm sure a lot of people who played through FF7 missed Vincent on there trek or treks even through the game, already putting him at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the cast. Even for those who did pick him up, they could have easily missed any information relating to Vincent himself, and I'm sure there are people who played through it acquiring Vincent years ago, and have had him completely slip their mind. He isn't exactly the most memorable character, although badass.

I know that more or less completely ignored your point about guides on the game around here, and I know I can't speak for everyone, but I sure as hell know that for every RPG I've ever played I didn't use a guide on every one of them. Actually, I haven't on the majority of the games. The only guide I can really remember using for any RPG is Skies of Arcadia to find all the locations of the places for your little book. Heh... forgot the exact name of them, but if you've played the game I think you know what I mean.

To counter my own point, (>_>) I'm extremely thorough with every RPG I play making sure I don't pass someone without talking to them, and talking to them again, or walking past the smallest unsearched crevice, so I don't need to guides really. However, those who I have watch play similar games, such as my siblings and friends, the more casual gamer, aren't as thorough as myself, and I've really never seen them refer to a guide either. Yes, I know my little clique isn't the GameFAQ's population, but I just have a reallly hard time stomaching that a character like that could perform that well in a contest.

That said I have Vincent > Kerrigan, Dante > Vincent.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

Even for those who did pick him up, they could have easily missed any information relating to Vincent himself

I really don't think most of the voters care THAT much about backstory or anything like that. Crono is a top 5 character, after all. It's all about appeal, and Vincent has plenty of that.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

Heh, I have a hard time stomaching a LOT of things that have happened in this contest. Starting with everytime Sephiroth wins a match...
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Graduation: April 30, 2005 "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

I have 2 brothers who played FFVII before I did, and neither of them found Vincent.

I did, of course, but it's me.

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KingBartz: Been a full Virgin since '87

Vincent isn't even that hard to get in the game.

This is the 100% truth. People always tend to act like finding Vincent is completely out of the way and is incredibly difficult. You have to enter the Shinra Mansion -- where he is located -- in order to progress the main storyline of Final Fantasy VII. It's the first time you actually get to freely explore the Mansion in all its wonder too.

And should we assume that people have a hard time cracking the code on the safe is when we then realize that GameFAQs is finally coming into the picture.

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“Yeah, sure. I always see it. But… who cares? I speak with passion, from the heart! That’s what matters most.”
Laguna Loire

So Crono takes that division easy.

The Devil Division ain't so easy to pick. Dante could win it (rest assured, he'll beat Terra EASILY, and he'll be stronger this year after DMC3). Kerrigan could win it, if she rides on Starcraft's success. Vincent could win it (and I think he will), because he's FF7. Magus could win it. Hell, even Knux shouldn't be too far below the top guys in this division. Squall's up there, too.

Ceej obviously tried to pile 8 close-to-equal characters into one division here... and I think he did a decent job. Still, though, I'm pretty sure of my pick in this division. Vincent wins. Vincent is to FF7 as Magus is to CT, or at least close enough. And with how strong Magus is, and the fact that Vincey will be stronger... well, I'm confident here.

It's a shame that the winner of that division faces Crono. It would have been more interesting if Mega Man had been set up against Crono, and Vincent (or whoever wins) was set to face Sonic. But I don't really mind, and this way makes for a more exciting semifinal.

Sonic beats Jin.

Kratos... loses to Diablo. Damn. Kratos just HAD to face the darling of Sp2k5, didn't he. I would have liked to see him move on... and with ToS's popularity around this place, that is possible.

Tifa beats Vyse.

Luigi vs. KOS-MOS... Hmm. Could be tricky. But after watching what happened to Albedo in the spring, and looking at KOS-MOS's low seed... my money's on the plumber. No matter what the X-Stats say.

So then we have two boring second round matches, and then Tifa vs. Sonic. Should be close, but I have a hard time believing FFVII's that strong that its 5th most popular character (probably) can take down Sonic.

And either way, that match's winner loses to Mega Man.

And Gordon Freeman loses to Leon, I see. So all is right with the world.

I like this. Should be a good contest.

Plus, most of the people on GameFAQs are casual gamers, I would imagine. They'd have nothing against using a strategy guide.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

rest assured, he'll beat Terra EASILY, and he'll be stronger this year after DMC3

I beg to differ on both points.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

Well we can go back and forth all day on Vincent, I just can't fathom him performing that well in this contest. Yes, I know Crono has no character and his oh-so-quotable self, "..." is really deep. But I think it's a bit different when you're in control of him throughout the entire game. I mean just look at Link for that one. I just don't know what would make Vincent a memorable character in FFVII.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

His "mysterious" bad boy appeal and nice Limit Breaks.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

On a totally unrelated note, would someone please grace me with the testicles needed to take Bowser over Snake?

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

Go ahead if you can take confidence in the contradictory results of the Spring Contest.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

No, I can't really, but Frog coming that close to Solid, I mean DAYUM.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

I doubt Frog would do it again, personally.
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

......Vincent's in the manual.

>______>;
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Volgin is one sexy beast....

I'd like to keep mine, thank you EC. Bowser will win, though.

Luigi vs. KOS-MOS... Hmm. Could be tricky. But after watching what happened to Albedo in the spring, and looking at KOS-MOS's low seed... my money's on the plumber. No matter what the X-Stats say.

I never even thought of that. I'm thinking Albedo = KOS-MOS(roughly), and we all saw how he whithered against M. Bison. M Bison is weaker than Ryu(I think), but by how much? Ryu > Luigi(or he used to), so this is really making me less secure in my choice. Could it be I overlooked something?

I went searching for those universal X-stats or whatever and couldn't find them.

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KingBartz: Been a full Virgin since '87

Albedo is much weaker than KOS MOS, KOS MOS proves TJF still lives.

Kerrigan winning two rounds, Ness winning a round, Bowser taking down Snake, and Crono making it all the way to Sephiroth.

Oh, it sounds so wrong, but it feels so good.
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Hail to the Queen of Blades.

......And that people won't vote for a villain whose barely in the game.
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Volgin is one sexy beast....

I'm thinking Albedo = KOS-MOS(roughly)

You, sir, have a broad definition of "roughly."
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

Well it's been a year since SC2k4, and we know KOS-MOS got next to nothing from Xeno 2. Who knows how much weaker she could be this year?

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KingBartz: Been a full Virgin since '87

Same... but I just can't accept that he was able to get that close to Snake. You can obviously tell I think Frog is way overranked in the X-Stats, and Snake along with him, I also refuse to believe Master Chief's along with Liquid Snake's rankings as well.

I know that the Spring Contest is to be taken with about as much seriousness as Richard Simmons, but Liquid's numbers on Link are MUCH higher than what he actually did against Sephiroth, which would indicate him being even lower in the rankings, which would by default lower MC, Frog, and Solid along with him. Bringing him much closer to Bowser, who was totally badass in PM2, thank you very much, although I doubt that would even give him a boost of 1 percent.

So yeah, I just think Snake has been enormously overestimated. I would've been tempted to take Zelda over his ass if it weren't for MGS3.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

HOLY **** NO. If anything, Bison = KOS-MOS.
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SC2K5 bracket: Samus over Snake, Crono over Megaman, Samus over Crono; Link over Sephiroth

That was in response to: I doubt Frog would do it again, personally.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

I don't think what Liquid did was a result of overestimating that area of the bracket. It was something the equivalent of Mega Man/Tidus, I would say.

Or FFVII/MGS...
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

Yeah, as much as I hate to disagree with the hot piece of ass that Bartz is, KOS-MOS >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Albedo... and I mean leagues. I still have Luigi in a nail bitter.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

From: LeonhartForever | Posted: 7/2/2005 8:46:42 PM | #281
I don't think what Liquid did was a result of overestimating that area of the bracket. It was something the equivalent of Mega Man/Tidus, I would say.

Or FFVII/MGS...

Nah, the entire contest is to be taken as seriously as Richard Simmons, as previously stated.
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SC2K5 bracket: Samus over Snake, Crono over Megaman, Samus over Crono; Link over Sephiroth

...I hate 2004 so, so much.

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“Yeah, sure. I always see it. But… who cares? I speak with passion, from the heart! That’s what matters most.”
Laguna Loire

I think I just came all over myself. Thank you slow... thank you.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

...how about Richard Simmons in a Tingle outfit?
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SC2K5 bracket: Samus over Snake, Crono over Megaman, Samus over Crono; Link over Sephiroth

Frog vs. Solid **** is the one match in contest history where I think the pic was a fairly large factor. Particularly because it wasn't labelled "Solid Snake", just "Snake". That's enough to throw off the casual voter, in my mind, and Snake's seems like a casual voter type of guy.
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There is no lawyer.

Now I KNOW I just came all over myself... as well as much of the elderly population.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

Damnit, Frog's just that strong.

Snake wins.

Btw, through a common match in Sonic, Aeris and Zero both seem stronger than Ryu. Would you take Aeris and Zero over Bowser?

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PETITION: Ability to preview contests to moderators before posting it. http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=7&topic=19643565 (190 Signs!)

Yes, yes I would.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

Zero? Yes.

Aeris? Ehh...Probably not.
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It's just not the same without this name.
Faithful supporter of Squall Leonhart in SC2K5

Zero, but probably not Aeris.
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Board 8: Where people treat each other right.

Check that, I would take Aeris over Ryu but not Zero.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

>_<

DAMMIT. Last time. Really.

Not over Zero, but over Bowser.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

I just want to point out the hilarity of the current situation involving Snake. EVERY YEAR, we have swarms of people going all "This year is Snake's year OMG HE'S GONNA WIN". Well, this time, instead it's "Snake is losing early!" So funny how two bad matches against Frog and Megaman can break down an entire fanbase.

Random fact: Kratos/Diablo is the only match EVER in which I picked a Blizzard entrant.
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SC2K5 bracket: Samus over Snake, Crono over Megaman, Samus over Crono; Link over Sephiroth

Random fact: Kratos/Diablo is the only match EVER in which I picked a Blizzard entrant.

Ouch.

I had the Craft and Diablo... unfortunately back during the good ol' Games Contest I was a moron.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

Random fact: Kratos/Diablo is the only match EVER in which I picked a Blizzard entrant.

Same here!
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Moltar's Comics - http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/Moltar (GAC)
SC2K5: Samus is going all the way!

Silly Moltar and his blackness.

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It's a Pinball Masquerade
Cheer up Emo kids. ~This sig was pimped by Icon's sig~

From: Slowflake | #295
Random fact: Kratos/Diablo is the only match EVER in which I picked a Blizzard entrant.

Watch Kratos win >>

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http://users.ign.com/collection/Radix1337
In my restless dreams I see that town...Silent Hill...

Go Kratos go!
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Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno