GameFAQs Contests

Actually, let's make this an OFFICIAL THING. I think design-based character generally crap the bed the further the contest goes on, due to a variety of factors. I know we've talked about this in the past, but I don't know if it's considered a real theory at this point. If so, go ahead and ignore me!

Let's examine:

Dante 2006:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2518 - Round 1. Kills Ryu Hayabusa, who ended up looking great in later years.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2540 - Round 2. Flubs it to Yoshi.

Dante 2007:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2883 - Round 1. Looks fine...
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2905 - Round 2. Still looks fine, but his score against Ammy has already weakened when adding in stronger characters.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2916 - Round 3. Remember this Pikachu match pic? Jesus.

Dante 2010:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3777 - Round 1. Murders Axel, who did well in his vote-in.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3817 - Round 2. Flubs it to Ryu.

Hayabusa 2007:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2890 - Round 1. Beats the KH crew combined.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/2908 - Round 2. Loses to Riku.

Hayabusa 2008:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3262 - Round 1. Beats Zero with some LFF assist.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3285 - Round 2. Awful.

COUNTERPOINT: Hayabusa did beat Chief in Round 2 of 2010...but that's Chief. People don't need a design to vote against him!

Altair 2008:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3247 - Round 1. Does really, really well against Isaac/Lucario, even accounting for LFF.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3277 - Round 2. Loses handily to Duke Nukem.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3292 - Round 3. Loses even worse to Duke when there's stronger competition.

Altair 2010:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3745 - Round 1. The Liquid thing.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3801 - Round 2. The Vivi thing. Absolutely no excuse for this given what he just did.


So, what causes this? Possible theories:
-Good placement and overlap making them look better early on than they are (ex: Hayabusa benefiting more from LFF than realized)
-Round 1 being the perfect body shot match pic for a design-based character, with later rounds focusing more on face shots, sprites, and 'artsy' freeform pictures
-Design-based character tanking when faced with characters people actually care about
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I think people overestimated Ratchet. They thought he would be stronger because of Spyro and Crash.

But this doesn't make much sense. Spyro and Crash are PS1 mascots. They come from an era when platform mascots were still relevant. Everyone who owned a PS1 played them, so they are filled with nostalgia.

But Ratchet comes from the PS2 era. This was when platforming was replaced by shooters and other more hardcore games. I've seem people talking about Crash and Spyro outside the internet, but never about Ratchet. He was just too kiddy for his era.

Slime's an objectively better character than half the other schmucks in this contest
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Drop it to the floor...

This match officialy mark Xenoblade as the biggest joke of this contest

Picture factor probably does have an effect depending on how many people vote without knowing the characters in the poll. If you look cool/hot you are going to do well.

Hayabusa for whatever reason gets crushed by Solid Snake, not sure if there is fanbase overlap or Snake is the ultimate pic factor, but Snake does something to him.
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BOP Results: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/CB9%20BOP.xls
Points: 27/32 Today's Picks: Epona and Altair

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I think people overestimated Ratchet. They thought he would be stronger because of Spyro and Crash.

But this doesn't make much sense. Spyro and Crash are PS1 mascots. They come from an era when platform mascots were still relevant. Everyone who owned a PS1 played them, so they are filled with nostalgia.

But Ratchet comes from the PS2 era. This was when platforming was replaced by shooters and other more hardcore games. I've seem people talking about Crash and Spyro outside the internet, but never about Ratchet. He was just too kiddy for his era.

I've heard more talk online about Ratchet than Crash or Spyro. Then again, Ratchet's games are more popular on this board, generally ranked higher at unikgamer, and my favorite LPer is a total R&C fanboy so I guess that all tainted my perception.
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Currently Playing - Super Metroid, MGS4, Brawl, FFVII, Wind Waker, RE4, SOTC

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I think people overestimated Ratchet. They thought he would be stronger because of Spyro and Crash.

But this doesn't make much sense. Spyro and Crash are PS1 mascots. They come from an era when platform mascots were still relevant. Everyone who owned a PS1 played them, so they are filled with nostalgia.

But Ratchet comes from the PS2 era. This was when platforming was replaced by shooters and other more hardcore games. I've seem people talking about Crash and Spyro outside the internet, but never about Ratchet. He was just too kiddy for his era.

I kind of want to agree, but Jak would have beasted over his poll too had it not been for a HUGE outside rally.

Altair, however, is hands-down the strongest character the Sony mascot group has faced so far.
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Currently Playing - Super Metroid, MGS4, Brawl, FFVII, Wind Waker, RE4, SOTC

LinkMarioSamus posted...

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I think people overestimated Ratchet. They thought he would be stronger because of Spyro and Crash.

But this doesn't make much sense. Spyro and Crash are PS1 mascots. They come from an era when platform mascots were still relevant. Everyone who owned a PS1 played them, so they are filled with nostalgia.

But Ratchet comes from the PS2 era. This was when platforming was replaced by shooters and other more hardcore games. I've seem people talking about Crash and Spyro outside the internet, but never about Ratchet. He was just too kiddy for his era.

I've heard more talk online about Ratchet than Crash or Spyro. Then again, Ratchet's games are more popular on this board, generally ranked higher at unikgamer, and my favorite LPer is a total R&C fanboy so I guess that all tainted my perception.

I'm not sure either, Ratchet seems to be more popular in nerdier sites like this one, but I think the average gamer doesn't care about him. Back in the 5th gen, when I got into a N64 x PS1 discussion with someone, I would talk about Mario, and people would argue that Crash was better, or as good as, than Mario.

In th 6th generation, if you talked about Mario, people would just say "lol kiddy games".

Crash was Sony's answer to Mario. Ratchet was Sony's answer to... nothing. Because no one cared about platforms anymore.

Why are people surprised

If anything I can't believe Shulk is not being held under 25
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SuperNiceDog - 1, pjbasis - 0

I think Ratchet is doing poorly not due to his PS2 origins (or at least too much from this) but from the fact that Altair also thrives on recognition votes. Jak/Spyro relied on weak, niche competition. Altair, on the other hand, is probably exerting recognizability SFF on Ratchet. Or something.

The even more stupid thing is that Ratchet's games were rated T. And they were about, you know, GUNS. And most of the games' titles had sexual implications.

I heard that Insomniac was actually trying to target 18-34 year olds with those games. Unfortunately no matter how much mature stuff is in a game with talking animals, such a game will always be viewed as a kiddy game - just go ask Conker's Bad Fur Day.

And then you look at the Fuse debacle and...yeah, kids' tastes in games going down the crapper.

I think kids are more into mature games nowadays. It makes sense too - kids don't want to be saddled with "kids' games" to look inferior. They WANT to play what's big, all the time. Good thing I only owned Nintendo consoles for almost ten years (until getting a PS3 in 2012), huh?
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Currently Playing - Super Metroid, MGS4, Brawl, FFVII, Wind Waker, RE4, SOTC

machinegungeek posted...

I think Ratchet is doing poorly not due to his PS2 origins (or at least too much from this) but from the fact that Altair also thrives on recognition votes. Jak/Spyro relied on weak, niche competition. Altair, on the other hand, is probably exerting recognizability SFF on Ratchet. Or something.

recognizabillity SFF? that's a new one
although yeah, Ratchet doesn't get to rely on being the only recognizable character unlike Spyro/Crash/Jak

Altair still sets the standard for the design people probably think of when they hear Assassin's Creed, even if he's irrelevant in the series now.

All the other Sony characters have thrived on recognizability, which means nothing for Ratchet against someone like Altair.

The only real surprising thing about this match is Shulk actually doing so well.
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Demyx is better than Axel.
http://www.last.fm/user/crazydom

Altair wouldn't be recognizable on name alone likely, but yeah his picture would help.

Can't wait to see the potentially low prediction percentage. Or laugh at people like myself who thought Ratchet had a shot. To be fair, it's not like Ratchet is getting completely curbstomped either - he's still doing better than freaking Liquid Snake did against Altair!
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Currently Playing - Super Metroid, MGS4, Brawl, FFVII, Wind Waker, RE4, SOTC

ChenKenichiFan posted...

Yeah but we can't just arbitrarily throw around "third place factor" when we clearly don't understand it. Reyn had even less reason to get "third place factor'd" than Shulk because Reyn stood out more.

It's not so much third place factor, as it is OBVIOUS third place factor. If there's a match like this one where 3rd place is somewhat in doubt, the third place character performs fine.
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"What's the matter with bootblacking? We both like it very much!"
This is Yesmar.

For all we know Shulk doing well could signify that this group is weaksauce, although given Altair's past performances and how characters of Ratchet's kind have consistently performed well this contest I doubt it.

I dunno, I thought that Altair's fading relevancy was reflected by his huge seeding drop (this kinda had precedent too, thanks to how badly Vincent performed), thus he'd be considerably weaker than he was in 2010. In the end, he's probably just as strong as he was - maybe stronger, even - while Ezio most certainly would have boosted.

Out of curiosity, who's Ezio against in R1? Sorry, couldn't be bothered to remember.
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Currently Playing - Super Metroid, MGS4, Brawl, FFVII, Wind Waker, RE4, SOTC

Shulk was always going to be a lot better than lame minor characters.
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SuperNiceDog - 1, pjbasis - 0

LOLContests posted...

ChenKenichiFan posted...

Yeah but we can't just arbitrarily throw around "third place factor" when we clearly don't understand it. Reyn had even less reason to get "third place factor'd" than Shulk because Reyn stood out more.

It's not so much third place factor, as it is OBVIOUS third place factor. If there's a match like this one where 3rd place is somewhat in doubt, the third place character performs fine.

Shulk wasn't obviously going to be last?
huh

1337gamerpr0 posted...

LOLContests posted...

ChenKenichiFan posted...

Yeah but we can't just arbitrarily throw around "third place factor" when we clearly don't understand it. Reyn had even less reason to get "third place factor'd" than Shulk because Reyn stood out more.

It's not so much third place factor, as it is OBVIOUS third place factor. If there's a match like this one where 3rd place is somewhat in doubt, the third place character performs fine.

Shulk wasn't obviously going to be last?
huh

There was some debate between him and Ratchet. Probably amongst casuals at least.
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"What's the matter with bootblacking? We both like it very much!"
This is Yesmar.

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Out of curiosity, who's Ezio against in R1? Sorry, couldn't be bothered to remember.

Tails and Bomberman.
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I pwn you all!

Much better competition than Altair actually, but he should still get a higher score
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SuperNiceDog - 1, pjbasis - 0

How are the spreads in the spread betting topic calculated?
Because it looks like Shulk getting last was obvious

Watch Tails randomly end up close to Ezio.
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Demyx is better than Axel.
http://www.last.fm/user/crazydom

Bomberman would probably get crushed by both Shulk and Ratchet. His franchise basically fell off a cliff with that 2006 reboot and hasn't done anything notable since.

On the other hand, characters of his type - old-school icons - have been performing well all contest so who the heck knows. Uh do you think he's still go even with Phoenix Wright today?

How the heck was 2006 a year for not one, but TWO critically reviled reboots of popular franchises?
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Currently Playing - Super Metroid, MGS4, Brawl, FFVII, Wind Waker, RE4, SOTC

MegatokyoEd posted...

Watch Tails randomly end up close to Ezio.

That was pretty much why I asked - because following Altair "beasting", Ezio disappointing would naturally follow just like in 2010.

What's even better is that Tails is actually in a good position to do it since his series has gone back up in popularity since 2010. Ezio will probably *only* 60-40 Tails in similar fashion to Kratos.
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Currently Playing - Super Metroid, MGS4, Brawl, FFVII, Wind Waker, RE4, SOTC

XFD I think Ratchet's trying to mount a comeback.

Go ahead and shoot me off the leaderboard! I'm still rooting for you.
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Currently Playing - Super Metroid, MGS4, Brawl, FFVII, Wind Waker, RE4, SOTC

Leon and TRE you will post the stats for the previous match correct?
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GameFaqs is NOT the place to go for relationship advice.Nobody here gets any action unless it is their right or left hand.Including me.~Dawn and Dusk~

Zelda getting only 62% on Ezio is troubling
Tails..had better Xstats in 2010 than Ezio
And Robotnic did good..so why only 4 of the gurus picked Tails is beyond me

well, Tails was behind Charizard.
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"i am pretty sure 3-year old children would generate more thoughtful discussion than board 8 on any topic of sexism" - Naye745

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Bomberman would probably get crushed by both Shulk and Ratchet.

I usually ignore you but seriously dude.
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"i am pretty sure 3-year old children would generate more thoughtful discussion than board 8 on any topic of sexism" - Naye745

Well at least it looks like Shulk will get more votes than Reyn or Dunban.
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http://myanimelist.net/animelist/swordz9

TheKoolAidShoto posted...

Leon picked Ratchet

lol

In my Crew pick because it's the Crew, so who cares.

In my bracket, I have Altair.
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"Hold on a minute! That testimony stinks!"
"Witness! You can't just say 'Hello' and expect us to get anywhere! I want you to testify!"

2007 was 6 years ago so I don't remember
But wasn't L block victory in the first round well recieved...?
There are more "ITS A HORSE" complaints than I remember "ITS A BLOCK" back then
I even think Board 8 supported L block...

So Epoina will not get the same support L block had then..?

Also not sure why you guys are surprised Altair got the board vote!

Brackets!
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http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/9919/leonhart.png

LeonhartFour posted...

Also not sure why you guys are surprised Altair got the board vote!

Brackets!

Link got the board vote in 2007 final because brackets!
wait a minute
(yes I know it's not really the same)

Well, I'm just saying, most of the time the character who's got bracket support is going to get the board vote, especially if people are the least bit concerned the character they picked MIGHT lose.
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http://i.imgur.com/eqOQs.gif

If that is true then why Sephiroth didn't had the board vote?
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GameFaqs is NOT the place to go for relationship advice.Nobody here gets any action unless it is their right or left hand.Including me.~Dawn and Dusk~

L-Block had people that did not like it because it was not a character, but most people took it to win its first round match, but only because the opponent was Laharl. L-Block's performance while above most people's expectations looked to be a one and done deal and that it wouldn't have much strength.

I'd say there was more venom towards L-Block when the bracket was released than its first round match.
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BOP Results: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/CB9%20BOP.xls
Points: 27/32 Today's Picks: Epona and Altair

Safer_777 posted...

If that is true then why Sephiroth didn't had the board vote?

Because people weren't the least bit concerned Sephiroth would lose.
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Safer_777 posted...

If that is true then why Sephiroth didn't had the board vote?

also this, final fantasy bracket vote hasn't shown up if it exists

If that is true then why Sephiroth didn't had the board vote?

Because we know he'll win, now take a look at Snake/Sephiroth in 2010

Wait that was more Cloud/Snake, the bracket votes essentially cancelled out the anti-votes
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BOP Results: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/CB9%20BOP.xls
Points: 27/32 Today's Picks: Epona and Altair

So in that match Sephiroth had the board vote?
Also Altair is the lowest seed to win the match and no 26 and 27 seed can do it because they are all too weak.
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GameFaqs is NOT the place to go for relationship advice.Nobody here gets any action unless it is their right or left hand.Including me.~Dawn and Dusk~

I'll never forgive this board for letting Cloud win the board vote over Snake

Monsters, all of you
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sig

I was thinking of Cloud/Snake

Snake had 52.59% at the freeze then went up to 53.48% at the next update.
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BOP Results: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/CB9%20BOP.xls
Points: 27/32 Today's Picks: Epona and Altair

AxemRedRanger posted...

Lloyd, Kratos Aurion, and Yuri would easily beat Niko at this point, wouldn't they?

Agree that Jade needs to go, though.

You might make an argument for Kratos, but we haven't seen him in a while and I'm wagering he's dropped significantly.
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Game of the decade? More like Guru of the decade mirite?
However, the Guru of the next decade so far is SuperNiceDog

So Lara > Yuri > Slime?
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...--|D)--..................
...--|D)ASEMAN--...

Kratos Aurion is going to lose to a chocobo
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A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.

Nanis23 posted...

2007 was 6 years ago so I don't remember
But wasn't L block victory in the first round well recieved...?
There are more "ITS A HORSE" complaints than I remember "ITS A BLOCK" back then
I even think Board 8 supported L block...

So Epoina will not get the same support L block had then..?

Epona's problem is being a Zelda character. This board isn't nearly as big on the Zelda series as the site as a whole is, and to be honest sometimes Zelda entities performing well in contests even makes me sick at times (though Epona's match yesterday wasn't one of them).
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Currently Playing - Super Metroid, MGS4, Brawl, FFVII, Wind Waker, RE4, SOTC

Nanis23 posted...

Zelda getting only 62% on Ezio is troubling
Tails..had better Xstats in 2010 than Ezio
And Robotnic did good..so why only 4 of the gurus picked Tails is beyond me

Ezio has gotten new games since then, and his series has become huge as a result. Tails is still just Sonic's sidekick.
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Currently Playing - Super Metroid, MGS4, Brawl, FFVII, Wind Waker, RE4, SOTC

That guy is not a Ryu, but a Yuri Hyuga, from Shadow Hearts. A great video game character to be sure... but also one of the absolute weakest entrants we've ever had. He should not be close to Slime.
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