GameFAQs Contests

bout to be sorry votals b
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Communists

The yellow site alert was taken down at 10:00 PM EST, so we should be seeing new accounts created at a slower rate now that it has been taken down.

Anyways, 54 minutes until bracket lockdown happens. The first matches will then start at 12:00 AM EST.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as raytan7585, Guru Champ!

So Ulti hoes that humility and being humble working out for you?
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Shooting Game never die. It prays that the clover of luck be always in your mind.

Calm before the storm.
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Dragon Ball Super. Star Wars Episode VII. Final Fantasy VII remake.
Nostalgia is a powerful drug and I'm going to need rehab.

Great news the Battle Bracket challenge where you pick or BANK is back, Wigs and I will be running it for this season, can get all your R1 picks in here:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/72765057

Freeeeeeee video game for this year's winner!
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Have you listened to this week's episode of The Show yet, buddy?
board8.wikia.com | thengamer.com/xstats

Alert is back up
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Like Darth Maul, the bastard child of Michael Flatley and Hellboy -trancer1
lol xstats

Last second site alert.

it's like he heard me say i would resist the temptation to change my bracket and sent that alert to tempt me
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?

oh god i told it to hide and it came back
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?

I just saw that last second site alert.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as raytan7585, Guru Champ!

Ah man, made it back just in time. Threw together a very quick bracket, but it's not like I know much of anything about the site's current preferences given the large drop in votals. Just for the record, I wasn't able to find any vote ins in my very quick search, but there weren't any, right? Thanks.

There weren't any vote-ins.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?

Yes, as others have said it isn't possible to set the updater until the polls come out. This may be complicated to do with the 4 polls at once.

And I did predict a 4x2 poll - though I thought all options would be required. So I was half right! >_>

I'll give lots of Allen credit, he did the best possible setup IMO. Just wish the 2nd round was two at a time.

HaRRicH posted...

I'm taking the Majora's Mask upset. Link to the Past is one of the five oldest games in the bracket and MM is arguably the strongest game to come out since...well, Ocarina Of Time. It just got the 3DS port too, and time has been progressively kinder to MM.

I'd take LoZ:LttP over FFX, but I wouldn't call that a lock. LoZ:MMs risky since it was once so divisive, but it's impressive how much of that has been overcome. I'm going with the dominance of 3D-games in its fanbase and more modern-age following to take it home -- expecting an exciting match.

Well, this is the most convincing argument for MM>LttP if nothing else.

I find it unlikely, but I do believe that GOTD may have boosted MM's esteem by a slight amount permanently, and also it has aged gracefully as you note - like a more extreme case of FF8.

whatev posted...

Ah man, made it back just in time. Threw together a very quick bracket, but it's not like I know much of anything about the site's current preferences given the large drop in votals. Just for the record, I wasn't able to find any vote ins in my very quick search, but there weren't any, right? Thanks.

No vote ins.
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...

So is Ulti still a *** or did she change her bad girl attitude?
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https://i.imgur.com/J7QTc1S.jpg

AH! Oh Jesus man, this is WAY too much pressure!!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=keDrmiomwa8
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JAK
The Character Battle IX people's champ.

BlAcK TuRtLe posted...

Man, no posts in 2 hours the night before bracket lockdown and the first match. Weird how quiet it is around here nowadays

A lot more contest discussion takes place outside of this topic than it used to.
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ROUND 1 – DAY 1 – TOP OF DIVISION 1

Match I: (1) Chrono Trigger vs. (16) Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Previous Performance

Chrono Trigger – 2009
56.36% against SMW2: Yoshi’s Island, Earthbound and Lufia II
37.59% against Super Mario 64, Castlevania: SotN and SMW2: Yoshi’s Island
21.58% against Final Fantasy VII, Super Mario 64 and GoldenEye 007

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal – 2010
31.76% against Golden Sun

Analysis

It’s been a while; five years since our last games contest, six for older games. For the first time ever games won’t be split by generation and matches will be 1v1 and 24 hours long starting in round 1, leading to some interesting match-ups. Though with a condensed format we will have multiple matches a day meaning my analyses will be shorter compared to previous contests.

The big question for Chrono Trigger in this contest is how much strength has it lost since 2009 and will it affect the outcome with its match against Final Fantasy X in round 3. Crono, Magus and Frog have all lost at least a step in the character battles so it is only natural to think something has happened to the game. You could argue that the lower vote totals and aging userbase would be beneficial for the game, but the series has done fine in high vote total years while the aging fanbase hasn’t prevented it from getting weaker in the past.

Lucky for us we could get an indication of Chrono Trigger’s chances against Final Fantasy X from this match. Ratchet & Clank lost to Golden Sun in 2010 whom lost to Final Fantasy X. The only issue is that Golden Sun 3 was released mid-contest in 2010 so it may have overperformed against Final Fantasy X.

Ratchet & Clank would have been expected to get 21.81% against Final Fantasy X so Chrono Trigger should be looking for something similar. Of course everything would have to be taken with a grain of salt; we are using five year old stats after all.

charmander6000’s Bracket: Chrono Trigger > Ratchet & Clank: UYA

charmander6000’s Prediction: Chrono Trigger wins, 76.83% - 23.17%
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Board Odds Project; Post Your Bracket: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/72683134

Match II: (8) Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King vs. (9) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

Previous Performance

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King – 2010
38.11% against Chrono Cross

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 – 2010
52.35% against Civilization IV
31.13% against Final Fantasy IX

Analysis

When I first saw this match it was quite difficult to decide which game would win. Using the x-stats Dragon Quest VIII finished just ahead of Persona 3. Of course there are issues in trusting those numbers besides the age of the stats. Firstly Persona 3 is behind FFX/FFIX SFF and while FFIX held up decently against FFX I would expect at least some SFF to have occurred. The other thing is that if you believed Majora’s Mask got super-powered at the end of the contest then Dragon Quest VIII’s value may be inflated. Honestly had this match taken place in 2010 you could make a strong argument for either game.

However, this is 2015; imagine predicting the 2008 character battle using 2003 stats. With little new information available since 2010 we have to make assumptions on how the gaming landscape has changed on GameFAQs. For one thing I feel that the Dragon Quest series has become even smaller. While Dragon Quest X has been released since 2010 and Dragon Quest XI is due to be released next year the series hasn’t had a popular game since VIII itself.

This is not to say the Persona fanbase is huge, but it has remained relevant in the conscience of the site. Persona 4 even got a 2 seed in this contest, but that is more because of a rabid fanbase oppose to a very large one. I feel mildly confident that Persona 3 will take this match, despite the close prediction. Dragon Quest VIII does have a chance, but if it does win I may have to change my philosophy on which games have had notable strength changes since 2010.

charmander6000’s Bracket: SMT: Persona 3 > Dragon Quest VIII

charmander6000’s Prediction: SMT: Persona 3 wins, 56.27% - 43.73%
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Board Odds Project; Post Your Bracket: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/72683134

Match III: (5) Batman: Arkham City vs. (12) Mega Man X

Previous Performance

Batman: Arkham City – N/A
N/A

Mega Man X – 2009
24.63% against Final Fantasy VI, LoZ: Link’s Awakening and Phantasy Star IV

Analysis

This is our first debatable old vs. new match. I’m a bit surprised this match wasn’t debated more, even if this is only a 1 point match. While Mega Man X was initially seen as a flop in 2009 for losing to Link’s Awakening this was more due to Link’s Awakening strength. The game still broke 38% on Final Fantasy VI which in 2009 was probably around what people thought.

While this is Arkham City’s first contest Arkham Asylum participated in the Game of the Decade and while the game’s participation was rather low key it did put up a good performance against Fallout 3. While I am a big supporter of Fallout 3 overperforming against Brawl most of the numbers I am calculating still had Fallout 3 breaking 40% which is pretty good. Personally I would take City over Asylum in a match, but I feel both games will have similar strength.

Remember back in 2009 when SBAllen defended splitting games by generation because the old games would easily lose to the new games. While the Halo/SMB example was a bad one he wasn’t completely wrong. As time goes on there will be fewer and fewer people that have played older games, which no doubt causes those games to become weaker. Even SMB3 went from being clearly stronger than SMW in 2004 to being equals in 2009. So imagine what another six years could do to middle tier games like Mega Man X.

Of course with new, younger users joining GameFAQs dropping down to near-zero the drop probably won’t be as drastic as what I am making it out to be, but I feel it could be the difference maker in a match like this.

charmander6000’s Bracket: Batman: Arkham Asylum > Mega Man X

charmander6000’s Prediction: Batman: Arkham Asylum wins, 53.52% - 46.48%



Match IV: (4) Final Fantasy X vs. (13) Half-Life

Previous Performance

Final Fantasy X – 2010
77.46% against Viewtiful Joe
70.83% against Borderlands
65.66% against Golden Sun
63.07% against Final Fantasy IX
56.81% against Resident Evil 4
49.89% against The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Half-Life – 2009
14.56% against LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross

Analysis

If Half-Life couldn’t defeat FFIX with Chrono Cross in the poll one could only imagine what FFX would do to it. It is fairly well known that while Half-Life is among the most respected PC game PC gaming in general is fairly weak on GameFAQs and with no sign of Half-Life 3 I don’t expect much from the original now that it has been over a decade since the release of Half-Life 2.

With Chrono Trigger and potentially Melee waiting in rounds 3 and 4 Final Fantasy X will be looking to make a good impression. While there is no set mark for Final Fantasy X to reach I do feel the game could be pushing for over 70%, especially if Half-Life took another drop in strength.

charmander6000’s Bracket: Final Fantasy X > Half-Life

charmander6000’s Prediction: Final Fantasy X wins, 68.45% - 31.55%
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Board Odds Project; Post Your Bracket: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/72683134

The bracket entry page was taken offline at 11:00:13 PM EST.

The GameFAQs logo just changed as well. You can find the updated GameFAQs logo right here:

http://img.gamefaqs.net/images/default/logo_v13_20.png
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as raytan7585, Guru Champ!

loving the new logo

I just noticed this page went live earlier:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/bge20_vote

It looks like that's the page where you can vote in every single match from. Of course, the matches will be on the homepage too. But if you wanted to rally for a game, you would link someone directly to that URL that I provided in this post and it would actually lead to the other matches getting extra votes from the rally attempt.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as raytan7585, Guru Champ!

Happy almost-birthday GameFAQs!
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M E N: nominate Metal Man in 20XX!
http://i.imgur.com/Dr4NAeq.png

I'm just seeing the bracket on that page. Nothing to indicate voting takes place there. Are you sure?

Edit: ohhhhhhhh I get it. The matches would be at the top, right?
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?

Yes, I am thinking the matches will appear at the top of the page I linked to in my previous post.

With that voting page, if you tried to rally for Persona 3, the other 3 matches get extra votes since the people being rallied for Persona 3 would also see the other 3 matches too. It also means that any outside rallies would spill over into the next set of matches.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as raytan7585, Guru Champ!

BOP Update

Thanks to everyone that contributed. In total 68 brackets were submitted. You can see them here...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BiD4_uBz5Gekzps4SoNzSbigW53rWQCbf5IzBaR9QeY

Here are the picks where less than 80% had the same winner (I have removed picks here that were only chosen by 1 or 2 brackets in order to decrease clutter)

ROUND 1

Division 1

Mega Man X – 50
Batman: Arkham City – 18

Kingdom Hearts II – 52
Metal Gear Solid 4 – 16

Division 2

Paper Mario: TTYD – 47
Tales of Symphonia – 21

Super Mario Galaxy 2 – 50
Mass Effect – 18

Division 3

Portal 2 – 45
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – 23

Division 5

Suikoden II – 38
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate - 30

Final Fantasy IX – 38
Kingdom Hearts – 30

Xenoblade Chronicles – 54
Donkey Kong Country 2 – 14

Fire Emblem: Awakening – 42
Super Mario Maker – 26

Division 7

Super Mario RPG – 49
Oblivion – 19

Chrono Cross – 40
World of Warcraft – 28

Division 8

Borderlands 2 – 42
Earthbound – 26

ROUND 2

Kingdom Hearts II – 48
Metal Gear Solid 4 – 14
The Last of Us – 6

Pokemon Red/Blue – 48
Super Mario Bros. 3 – 20

Portal 2 – 38
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – 19
Uncharted 2 – 11

Final Fantasy IX – 35
Kingdom Hearts – 28
Okami – 4

Xenoblade Chronicles – 34
Super Mario Maker – 15
Fire Emblem: Awakening – 15
Donkey Kong Country 2 – 4

Metal Gear Solid V – 44
Dark Souls – 22

Super Mario Galaxy – 53
Super Metroid – 14

Super Mario RPG – 41
Oblivion – 15
Grand Theft Auto V – 12

Chrono Cross – 32
GTA: San Andreas – 25
World of Warcraft – 8
Shovel Knight – 3

ROUND 3

Final Fantasy X – 45
Chrono Trigger – 23

Final Fantasy VI – 48
LoZ: The Wind Waker – 19

Pokemon Red/Blue – 48
Super Mario Bros. 3 – 20

Skyrim – 53
Metroid Prime – 8
GoldenEye 007 – 5

Castlevania: SotN – 53
Super Mario Maker – 6
Xenoblade Chronicles – 5
Banjo-Kazooie – 3

Super Mario RPG – 41
Oblivion – 14
Grand Theft Auto V – 9

Metal Gear Solid 3 – 49
Mass Effect 2 – 17

ROUND 4

Super Smash Bros. Melee – 36
Final Fantasy X – 18
Chrono Trigger – 11

Pokemon Red/Blue – 45
Super Mario World – 18
Super Mario Bros. 3 – 4

Metal Gear Solid – 50
Metal Gear Solid 3 – 11
Mass Effect 2 – 5

ROUND 5

Final Fantasy VII – 45
Super Smash Bros. Melee – 10
Final Fantasy VI – 5
Chrono Trigger – 3

Super Mario 64 – 31
Pokemon Red/Blue – 29
Super Mario World – 4

Metal Gear Solid – 37
Resident Evil 4 – 21
Metal Gear Solid 3 – 4
Mass Effect 2 – 3

ROUND 6

Pokemon Red/Blue – 22
Final Fantasy VII – 21
Super Mario 64 – 16
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Board Odds Project; Post Your Bracket: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/72683134

-LusterSoldier- posted...

Yes, I am thinking the matches will appear at the top of the page I linked to in my previous post.

With that voting page, if you tried to rally for Persona 3, the other 3 matches get extra votes since the people being rallied for Persona 3 would also see the other 3 matches too. It also means that any outside rallies would spill over into the next set of matches.

That is brilliant. Allen really thought this out.
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Raytan7585 is better than me at redditFAQs

The dumbest time of the year is back!

Who's ready to make wacky predictions based on the first 5 minutes?
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http://i.imgur.com/M1heX2g.jpg
RIP Paul Bearer. Ohhhh nooooo. :(

Me!

FFX > CT confirmed based on whatever CT has at the freeze
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http://i.imgur.com/3DwCNLJ.gif

Got the stats open in one tab, another on the front page, another on the topic list.

Let's go.
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LongLiveraytan

Don't even need that long!

MM > LttP foreshadowed by FFX seeming to overperform.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?

Whatever happens, I'm going to take it as a sign that Super Metroid > Mario Galaxy is going to happen and totally wasn't a dumb pick.
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JAK
The Character Battle IX people's champ.

pretty sure I can confirm FF7 > OOT based on today's results
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Communists

Here's my first stats post in probably months.

I missed the entire debate period; hope it was fun!
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http://i.imgur.com/gByqgPg.gif

Let's go, guys.
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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

Chrono Trigger will start off in the mid-80s causing people to call CT > FFVII
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BGE3: Today's Matches CT>R&C, P3>DQ8, Batman>MMX, FFX>HL
Points 0/0

CaptainOfCrush posted...

Here's my first stats post in probably months.

I missed the entire debate period; hope it was fun!

Wow yoblazer, some contest fan you are. Completely skipping the debate portion of the contest is a disgrace for any true contest fan.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as raytan7585, Guru Champ!

5 minutes, folks.
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Raytan7585 is better than me at redditFAQs

charmander6000 posted...

Chrono Trigger will start off in the mid-80s causing people to call CT > FFVII

I actually have CT > FFVI in my bracket. >_>
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"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."

Let's do this!

CT > OOT based on first 5 minutes let's go
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September 1, 2003; November 4, 2007; September 2, 2013
NEVER FORGET.

The excitement is strong!
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XBL Gamertag - Tiirshak
PSN ID - Kudaark Steam Name : skaalfa

I just now got a terrible feeling MMX is gonna get crushed.
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http://i.imgur.com/M1heX2g.jpg
RIP Paul Bearer. Ohhhh nooooo. :(

i am excite
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Your signature is automatically appended to the bottom of every post you make. Your 'About Me' message is displayed on your profile page. You can include any in

How likely is it that the poll will malfunction?
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BGE3: Today's Matches CT>R&C, P3>DQ8, Batman>MMX, FFX>HL
Points 0/0

oh man oh god

I better decide what I'm voting for!

C'mon Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest 8, Who Cares and Final Fantasy X!
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http://steamsignature.com/card/0/76561197979294707.png

WarThaNemesis2 posted...

I just now got a terrible feeling MMX is gonna get crushed.

I'd take this as a good sign that new games actually can make a difference in these things and the contests won't become increasingly stale.
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LongLiveraytan

Just start the contest already!
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Congrats to 2013 Guru champ raytan!

TheCodeisBosco posted...

Whatever happens, I'm going to take it as a sign that Super Metroid > Mario Galaxy is going to happen and totally wasn't a dumb pick.

Boscopinion'd
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