Soul’s Analysis

http://zerowingrhapsody.ytmnd.com/

I'm sure you've all heard CATS' famous lines already. I mean, as of right now, the CATS topics must be piling in. After looking at the board for a while, I bet you new guys are thinking that CATS could actually take down Master Chief!

Don't be fooled. It happens every year. CATS is a contest joke. He will always perform bad in the contests, and will always lose (unless he faces Gordon Freeman or Tanner). Believe me, Master Chief is not Freeman or Tanner. Plus, with Halo 2 coming out since the last contest, and the "XBox Hate" winding down, Master Chief should have increased a bit. But, after seeing CJ and Lloyd underperform in my eyes, anything can happen.

My prediction: Master Chief wins with 83.58% of the vote. What else needs to be said?



Inviso’s Analysis

In 2002…CATS was beaten by Ryu as a 13 seed. In 2003…CATS was beaten by Cloud as a 16 seed. In 2004…CATS was beaten by Link as a 16 seed. In the Spring Contest…CATS was beaten by Ansem as a 5 seed, the highest seed he’ll EVER get. And now, he’s facing Master Chief of Halo fame, as an 8 seed. Ever since Zero Wing came out in America, CATS has been famous and the biggest internet fad of all time, simply due to the terrible translation of the game. He was a joke…and the joke isn’t funny anymore. CATS will never win a match, at least, not as long as he’s put against characters that have any sort of fanbase whatsoever. Master Chief ended up being a top 16 character in last summer’s x-stats, and now he has a new game, Halo 2 out for the Xbox, and it has sold extremely well. Halo has quickly become the biggest franchise of this generation, and the Chief will have an easy match.

My Bracket: Master Chief
My Vote: Master Chief
My Prediction: Master Chief with 81.61%



Tnote’s Analysis

CATS proved many of us wrong in the Spring, that he does not have a ‘ceiling’ of votes, and actually had Ansem on his heels until the morning. But the Kingdom Hearts day vote kicked in – even for the Darkness – and with it went everyone’s favorite intergalactic pirate’s best chance at a contest W. Master Chief took part in one of, if not the, greatest match in GameFAQs contest history. Over 90,000 votes were cast, and when the smoke cleared, the Shakesperean Amphibian had seven more votes… legal or otherwise. The fact of the matter is that CATS is no Frog, and with the addition of Halo 2 to the Chief’s resume, this one should be ugly. CATS almost avoided a quadrupling at the hands of Hadoken Ryu, but that was back when CATS’ core voters made a much larger impact because of the sub-60k voting poll. Add on 30k votes, while having the Chief be eerily close to the fireballer, and I think this one will end with a similar result.

Pick: Master Chief with 78.27%

---
Moltar's Comics - http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/Moltar
Ryu vs. Rikku - Bracket: Ryu - Vote: Ryu (14/15)

Yet Kefka getting crushed is SFF all the way? Sounds like bias.

Or it could be that Kefka's been in another contest since then and pretty much proved it was SFF, right?

Nah, that couldn't be it.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

From: UltimaterializerX | Posted: 8/3/2005 11:54:40 PM | #297
Slow, you really think that it won't be SFF if Zidane bombs? Yet Kefka getting crushed is SFF all the way? Sounds like bias.

~*ST*~

You got me mixed up with somebody else. If Zidane bombs, it could be anything. If CRONO bombs, on the other hand...
---
SC2K5 status - Points: 014/015 - Matches: 14/15 - Rank: 01183/33793 - Today: Ryu - Tomorrow: Master Chief

Vlado’s Analysis


The correct spelling is Cats, not CATS. The Zero Wing guidebook says so. Anyway, Cats is everyone's favourite. There are few who hate him, but I doubt they're able to fully comprehend the immense amounts of fun he brings to his supporters every time he shows up in these contests. And this year was a special one, as this will be his second match. In the spring, he faced Ansem and had the lead for over 5 hours in what I claim to be the best match in the GameFAQs contest history. It was certainly the most entertaining for me, and I hadn't slept for 24 hours, but I never went to bed until he lost the lead. Cats is awesome. It's as simple as that. Sure, he'll lose, but he'll still lead at least for the first few minutes, and I won't miss on those few minutes of entertainment.

Cats' good performance against Ansem crushed the myth that he had a cap on his votes that he could never break. In the X-Stats he placed 15th over awesome, popular characters such as Dr. Robotnik, Sin and Albert Wesker and that's an achievement by itself. What can he do against Master Chief, though? Not much, that's for sure. However, Xbox is not exactly liked on GameFAQs and that'll surely help Cats not get totally owned.

Master Chief has an easy, predictable path in this tournament. He'll win his first two matches with ease, and then inevitably lose to Crono. He can't do better than that, he can't do worse, either. With or without the supposed Halo 2 increase, compared to his 2004 performance, he doesn't stand even a remote chance against Crono.

Predicted percentage: Master Chief with 78.19%

---
Moltar's Comics - http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/Moltar
Ryu vs. Rikku - Bracket: Ryu - Vote: Ryu (14/15)

Yessss, I've got the lowest pick!

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
"If my fate is to be destroyed... I must simply laugh!" -Magus

are you serious? despite being the hero of his game, Zidane STILL has very little going for him compared to Vivi. especially with that girly pic. it's not even cute-girly like Mithos; it's fugly-girly. Zidane is going to manage somewhere between 20-25% on Crono.

That pic is not girly at all. Honestly, I totally fail to see how anyone sees that, bias or not.

---
I need to put something here.

The only reason I could see why people could say that picture is "girly" is the hair, and even THAT is a stretch.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

...that's not a bad pic of Zidane at all.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
"If my fate is to be destroyed... I must simply laugh!" -Magus

84.55!!

Either someone thinks CATS is taking quite the drop or Master Cheif can now beat Sephiroth.
---
Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

I don't care WHAT the manual says, it's CATS.

-=Æ=-
---
http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/chaoscell/
http://jackisback.ytmnd.com/

What chaoscell said.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
"If my fate is to be destroyed... I must simply laugh!" -Magus

Kefka avoids the lettuce picture, which gives him a better chance against Vercetti.
---
Today's subliminal thought is:

That pic is not girly at all. Honestly, I totally fail to see how anyone sees that, bias or not.

are we looking at the same picture? because i'm looking at:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/shared/sum05/b20.jpg

and that pic of Zidane is terrible. Zidane has never had any kind of casual appeal whwn it comes to his looks. and noone from FFIX ever has except Vivi, Beatrix, and possibly Garnet. the rest of the cast looks like a squad of mutants.

and this is coming from a guy that really liked FFIX and most of it's characters. except Amarant. his place in the game was really wasted.

---
Official Co-Host for PUB TRIVIA XV
Yoblazer is officially THE MAN for beating us all in SpC2K5!!

Nobody in that game had more wasted potential than Freya. Amarant was basically a waste of space as a party member, period. He should've been a boss fight and nothing more.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

I thought FFIX was very visually appealing... but I'm kind of a sucker for simple, hand-drawn stuff.
---
Trivia XV: Dragostea Din Tei
Yoblazer'd

I know that Zidane isn't the best looking guy, yeah, but there is nothing wrong with his pic. And plenty of people have played FFIX and know Zidane, regardless of whether or not they like it/him.
---
I need to put something here.

I dont know if I keep just missing a lot with Freya, but they act like they are going to dwelve all through her past. And you see Sir Fratley ONCE before the ending..

Once.
---
Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

Yeah, Freya was really screwed over by whoever wrote that game. She could have easily been the best character.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
"If my fate is to be destroyed... I must simply laugh!" -Magus

No, there's nothing with Freya. After Cleyra, she gets thrown completely to the backburner.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

I thought FFIX was very visually appealing... but I'm kind of a sucker for simple, hand-drawn stuff.

Same here: I thought FFIX was down-right gorgeous at times.
---
Today's subliminal thought is:

Why does everyone always bash Amarant? He DID have character development. I personally enjoyed seeing him go from the hardened badass that didin't understand Zidane and crew to a guy that thought of them as friends by the end. His development was subtle but it was there.

Steiner would have been the Best. Character. Ever. if two of this moves were named the Frakensteiner and the Steiner Recliner.
---
Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

I don't have much of a problem with Amarant as a character. I just think he'd have been better off as an enemy, not a party member.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

http://www.gamefaqs.com/shared/sum05/b17.jpg
http://www.gamefaqs.com/shared/sum05/b18.jpg
http://www.gamefaqs.com/shared/sum05/b19.jpg
http://www.gamefaqs.com/shared/sum05/b20.jpg

MC/CATS is a sweet picture. DK should have gotten a lil' more of his body in the pic, though Fisher looks good. CGI Kefka VS Vercetti without the Hawaii-shirt...interesting, and kinda scary. Crono's lookin' mighty Crono-y, and I forgot that Zidane was feminine-lookin'. Not too bad of a round for pics in this division, I suppose.


Zidane gets the Mithos vote.

He he he, that crossed my mind too.


I like to call that picture of Zidane is "Taylor Hanson" picture.

Ba-dum-ching! Heh, another good comparison.


Please. Crono could break 80% in that match.

I almost guarantee 80% will not be broken. Now, a tripling isn't out of the question (though I think Zidane'll manage to prevent the tripling by a small amount), but I can't see Zidane gettin' molested that badly by Crono.


Zidane.... looks like a young Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

Ding ding ding, ANOTHER viable comparison.
---
Hillary Clinton: We need to treat violent video games the way we treat tobacco or alcohol.
Lewis Black: Namely as valued contributors to our re-election fund.

Don't diss Amarant. He actually is a pretty well rounded character in that game. I admit though that there wasn't enough put into the characters in FFIX outside of Zidane and Kuja.

Shallow character development is probably one of the only things wrong with the game. That and the battle system (Trance in particular). I liked the fact that they brought back the character individuality in battle, something we hadn't seen since FFIV.

And there's nothing wrong with Zidane's picture if that's what you got from my earlier post. I just said there's nothing really appealing about his character design.
---
Graduation: April 30, 2005 "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

The Trance system in FFIX is a joke. I think we can all agree on that.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

Amarant's character development was pathetic.

"You beat me... Why didn't you finish me off? I don't understand you. Hmmm, I must follow you."

That was basically it.
---
Graduation: April 30, 2005 "There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those that read binary and those that don't."

The fact that you cant:

A) Save a trance
and
B) Half the trances are useless.

hurts.
---
Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

Eh, at least they sorta looked cool while being a crappy idea. <_<
---
I need to put something here.

The only good thing about Trance mode is Garnet wearing a swimsuit.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

The only cool trances were Zidane's.

FFIX talk... mercy...

---
Takes nothing to realize your Ken.
http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/480/kensa34mr.gif

Amarant's design is stupid. The guy looks like a cross between a Spaniard with a goatee and Cousin It.

~*ST*~
---
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
"If my fate is to be destroyed... I must simply laugh!" -Magus

therealmnm: Characterization was a weak point of FFIX?

FFIX easily has the best character development in the entire series. Zidane, Kuja, Vivi, Garnet, Eiko, Steiner, and Beatrix are all well rounded characters with depth. Even Quina is given some kind emotional depth and charm. The only characters that were disappointments were Freya and Amarant. Freya because there was just SO much wasted potential. Amarant, because he sucked.
---
Knights of the Old Republic> Your favorite Square RPG

Heh, and nobody notices we passed 100,000 a few minutes ago. This has probably been one of the most ho-hum 100K we've seen.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

I thought FFIX was very visually appealing... but I'm kind of a sucker for simple, hand-drawn stuff.

Same here: I thought FFIX was down-right gorgeous at times.

I agree with both...
---
"Opinions are like butts, little girl. Everyone's got one and nobody thinks their's stink." -Lunar 2:EB
*Claims KG's Eclair & Millia Rage*

Trance Kuja looks pretty cool, too.

This has probably been one of the most ho-hum 100K we've seen.

O_O This is the best match ever.
---
I need to put something here.

Amarant's design does suck. He has sea coral covering his face....

"You don't need a reason to help people."

Crono is probably the only character in this contest that I would vote for over Zidane.

FF9 had one of the best localizations in the series for its time, as the English script is fantastic. There's so many clever play on words that the localization preserved. The fact that pretty much all the characters have great quotes doesn't hurt either.

The only other things that stood out about the game though were how it was animated (second only to Chrono Cross on the PSX) and the FMVs.

The nostalgia was kind of neat, too. ;)
---
LordOfDabu.nS)
To be defeated by us is an honor.

I really wish Nomura would stop being such a punk ass ***** and just bring Zidane to Kingdom Hearts.

"I haven't brought other Final Fantasy characters over because I didn't design them! I'm thinking about it though..."

Shut the hell up and just do it. Obviously all Zidane needs to do well here is a Nomura makeover.
---
Knights of the Old Republic> Your favorite Square RPG

Err...

Ryu 55.71% 55778
Rikku 44.29% 44346
TOTAL VOTES 100124

...ahem.
---
Hillary Clinton: We need to treat violent video games the way we treat tobacco or alcohol.
Lewis Black: Namely as valued contributors to our re-election fund.

*FF9 Spoilers*

Amarant was alright, but he barely got more character development than ****ing Quina. And Freya had no purpose after Cleyra other than to be the catalyst for some of the little development Amarant had.

Meh, they focused way too much on Garnet and maybe Vivi. Not to mention Garnet seemed devoid of a real personality for most of the game.

As much as I love FF9, the characters pretty much suck, though I guess Eiko's alright, and I do still like Zidane and Vivi. If anyone in that game was well-developed, though, it's definitely Steiner. His blind loyalty was hilarious at points, and after the return to Alexandria he starts changing. Hell, by the end he actually makes a few cracks at Garnet's expense (like their flight to Memoria with all the white dragons) when he previously was so adamant about her being treated with great respect.

FF9 is pretty weird.
---
The NEW Board 8's Best Female Summer Contest Guru

Steiner and Vivi are easily the two best developed Final Fantasy characters since the FFVI gang.
---
Leon's Quest For Ultimate Glory:
1. Tripling Gordon Freeman.

Zidane is the only character from FFIX that I really like. Sure, he's no Cloud, Squall, Tidus, or Ramza, but I still like him quite a bit. He was a nice change of pace from your standard RPG lead. Heh, he just had too much to live up to, I guess.
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

Not to mention Garnet seemed devoid of a real personality for most of the game.

That's just how some people are... It didn't really bother me.

===
Oh. My. God.
Did the PS2's light just change color...?!

Steiner and Vivi are easily the two best developed Final Fantasy characters since the FFVI gang.

The moment in the Wind Shrine before they fought Tiamat was one of my favorites in the game.

"...But what if I miss?"

"I trust you, Vivi."
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno

Ugh, DKs pic is awful yet again.

http://tinypic.com/8xnfvq.jpg

---
"It takes but a man to gaze into his own twilight and approach it with fear. It takes but a legend to approach it with open arms." - The Unheard Z

NewLib: True, Steiner and Vivi are very well developed. False The FFVI cast is not well developed. Terra, Cyan, Locke, and Celes are the only characters one could say are developed or interesting with a straight face.

SirCrono:

Squall>Zidane>Ramza>Tidus>Cloud

But all are good characters, so no biggie.
---
Knights of the Old Republic> Your favorite Square RPG

From: Sir Crono | Posted: 8/3/2005 9:20:57 PM | #344
Zidane is the only character from FFIX that I really like. Sure, he's no Cloud, Squall, Tidus, or Ramza, but I still like him quite a bit. He was a nice change of pace from your standard RPG lead. Heh, he just had too much to live up to, I guess.

GAH! ARGGGH! My eyes!

It's painful to read that. I wish someone could have warned me.

===
Oh. My. God.
Did the PS2's light just change color...?!

What's the problem?
---
Squall Leonhart's Road to the Summer Contest 2005 Championship
Round 1: (7) Geno