GameFAQs Contests

Bump

Hopefully @ZenOfThunder comes back to finish his newcomer series.

he used the fact that we started talking about contests again briefly as an excuse to stop doing it because apparently his job was done

man this poll makes the site look super old

LeonhartFour posted...

he used the fact that we started talking about contests again briefly as an excuse to stop doing it because apparently his job was done

this is actually the reason i stopped, people started talking again and i was happy

i noticed earlier today that people stopped talking and I thought "i should write again" but then I started watching anime instead

perhaps tomorrow

for reference here is what i still need to do:

Kefka
Ramza
Raiden
Yuna
Vyse
Tommy Vercetti
Kite
Zelda
Mr. Resetti

Luca Blight
JC Denton
Earthworm Jim
Protoman
Frog
Liquid Snake
Tanner
Laharl
Kain (Legacy Of Kain)
Jak
Vivi
Sly Cooper
Viewtiful Joe
HK-47
Ryu Hayabusa

Joanna Dark
Carl Johnson
Lloyd Irving
Albert Wesker
Yuri Hyuga
Riku
Big Boss
Manny Calavera
Kratos (God Of War)
Agent 47
Cecil
King Of All Cosmos
Chun-Li
Rikku
Zidane Tribal
Terra Branford
Sarah Kerrigan
Vincent Valentine
Geno
Jin Kazama
Kratos Aurion
Diablo
Tifa Lockhart
Leon Kennedy
Revolver Ocelot

Kefka
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Dissidia Final Fantasy NT

do you remember when "ahem, there's SAND on my boots!!" was a Board 8 meme

we were all like 16, right?

let's go through Kefka's contest history really quick to understand where he is:

2003: Barely beat Pac-Man, lost to Crono
2004: Lost to Knuckles
2005: Beat Mithos, somehow beat Wesker by less, then lost to Diablo
2005: Lost to Tommy Vercetti
2007: Lost to Marcus Fenix, beat two Nintendo jobbers, then lost to to Cloud, Marcus and Ocelot
2008: Lost to Marth, Duke and Niko Bellic
2010: Beat Arthas, lost to Bowser
2013: Beat Zack, Ryu H., Altair, Lara, but then lost to Cloud and GLaDOS

Kefka, despite being one of these contests' biggest losers, is a mainstay that I doubt will be going anywhere anytime soon. Normally I'd say "come on guys, let's give someone else a chance," but then you look at those 2013 results and... wow.

What the hell happened between 2010 and 2013? Kefka wasn't able to double Arthas Menethil. Arthas is basically a low midcarder, and Kefka is the main villain of arguably the best Final Fantasy ever made. On a site that worships FF, shouldn't Kefka be able to beat Knuckles? Even with the Lettuce Pic?

Well, he can now. Thanks to Dissidia.

FFVI may be considered "iconic," and even though it carried weight in the games contest, before Dissidia, Kefka and Terra were just some weird Japanese things that would pop up on the front page, sometimes with ugly Amano art. Kefka blew out Wesker because he had a cool angel sprite pic. Other times he just looked like an ugly clown. Terra was anime girl #73.

Are these characters bad? Why does GameFAQs throw all its support behind FFVI and not its flagship characters? Why did Kain do better in his one appearance than Kefka and Terra had done up until that point?

Could it be that you average GameFAQs user is... a huge poser? Do they simply see FFVI on the front page and vote for it because they heard it's good? Do they see "Kain Highwind" and some Amano-looking art and figure from all the other "Highwinds" in Final Fantasy that he's someone they should vote for? There's an older poll where 33% of GameFAQs admits to having never played FFVI.

But then you get this poll: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5728

How is that possible if 33% of the site has never played FFVI? Surely more have played FFVII. Where is this love coming from? Anti-votes for VII? Are people peer-pressured into voting for FFVI because it's the "cool thing to do?" Is it some kind of retro charm?

But then in 2015 FFVI loses to FFVII

what the f*** gamefaqs

I literally cannot understand you

tl;dr Kefka should stay in these contests because he's completely unpredictable much like the people on this damn website

ZenOfThunder posted...

to understand where he is

we will never understand where Kefka is

Ramza
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Dissidia Final Fantasy NT

here's another beloved Final Fantasy character from a beloved Final Fantasy game that everyone claims they love but then the main character gets s*** on constantly in a contest setting

Kefka may be bad but at least he never lost to Hogger, not even at his lowest point

an obscure WoW meme beat Ramza

Rallying or not, I cannot believe Ramza couldn't pull that one out. It was so close and he just couldn't.

Ramza would later go on to form a crippling addiction to opioids to cope with his loss

but for real he managed to beat JC Denton in 2013 so that's something I guess (no it's not)

Will the Dissidia boost bump Ramza up in popularity? Well, I don't see nearly as much hype for NT as I did for the other two games

on top of that, NT doesn't have a story mode, and I think Ramza was DLC in Japan or something. I'm not sure but I know he isn't really as integral or heavily advertised as Kefka or Jecht. So no, I'm guessing Ramza isn't going to suddenly be able to move a mountain that isn't roughly the same size and shape as JC Denton. He may be a crowd favorite, but maybe it's best to leave him out and just have Final Fantasy Tactics represent Final Fantasy Tactics

Regarding Kefka, do we have any actual evidence that Lettuce Kefka performs worse than Standard Kefka?

Hogger is not obscure at all.

Raiden
Last Contest: 2013
Last Games: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014), Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013)

Real talk: What happens to Raiden now that Konami is metaphorically dead?

We have a Konami that wants to whore out the most iconic parts of MGS to the point that they made their own awful survival game using the IP and had iconic MGS elements such as Metal Gear Ray be summonable assists just because "hey NERDS do you remember this thing? remember it and clap!!"

Like, Platinum would never want to make a Revengeance 2 with Konami in the state that they're in. If Konami ever did decide to reboot MGS, it would most likely be either revolving around a new character (probably shoehorned in as like "THE SECRET SON OF THE DARPA CHIEF" or some stupid garbage) or just make a new game revolving around the Snake family. Metal Gear Liquid, anybody?

So where does that leave Raiden? Well, all the people that anti-voted Raiden in 2003 and 2007 either grew up and realize he wasn't that bad or got on board as soon as Kojima made him into tEh BaDaSs 133t NiNj0r or whatever

I make fun of it but yeah Raiden is actually the f***ing best now, Kojima you are a god, RIP

Raiden definitely did get a boost from becoming "cool" but we never saw him in situations where he could put it to good use. He spanked Waluigi pretty hard then managed to beat a Yoshi that was getting heavily SFF'd by Link. I think at one point he did alright against Master Chief but I dunno if that's actually an accomplishment. Depends on Chief's mood, I think.

At this point it may be too late for Raiden to do much damage. Ironically Kojima's firing/departure from Konami might have made MGS and its characters some kind of weird martyrs. Even the MGS devs spat in Konami's face with Survive, putting in that Easter Egg where they call the producers traitors. Can you imagine anyone else in this industry commanding that much blind loyalty?

People may see Raiden on the front page and, with tears in their eyes, proudly vote for Raiden in memory of Kojima, MGS, and what Konami used to be

probably not tho

That FFVI vs. FFVII poll will remain a mystery, but let's take into account that playrate =/= popularity.

ZenOfThunder posted...

What the hell happened between 2010 and 2013? Kefka wasn't able to double Arthas Menethil

You want a scary thought? Arthas was the board favorite to win that match outright.

bwburke94 posted...

Regarding Kefka, do we have any actual evidence that Lettuce Kefka performs worse than Standard Kefka?

I originally had a paragraph delving into that, but Kefka's performances are too all over the place to pinpoint where he was strongest pre-Dissidia.

He had a clown facepic against Mithos and got 63% and then got the purple angel pic against Wesker and got 70%. Wesker was considerably stronger than Mithos so the boost Kefka got from that pic must have been astrological.

We'll probably never see Lettuce Kefka again to confirm it was actually the art that hurt him but it was probably the case. "Kefka" just isn't a recognizable name for your average person, you HAVE to have played FFVI to know about him and Terra and Locke and Cole. It's not like FFVII where everyone who has ever played Tetris seems to know every small detail of that game and can draw picture-perfect recreations of the entire cast.

UltimaterializerX posted...

Hogger is not obscure at all.

ulti i know you love Ramza and FFT but please

ZenOfThunder posted...

He had a clown facepic against Mithos and got 63% and then got the purple angel pic against Wesker and got 70%. Wesker was considerably stronger than Mithos so the boost Kefka got from that pic must have been astrological.

And don't forget this Kefka.

http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/cb7/cb7-03.jpg

What the hell even is this thing?

Yuna
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: World of Final Fantasy (2016), Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: All-Star Carnival (2016)

Before I continue I would like to thank anyone who responds to my posts because the ultimate goal here is to stimulate contest discussion because who knows if we'll ever get a contest ever again Bacon please

It's a shame that Yuna hasn't gotten any substantially appearances since FFX-2, which was... s***, that was 15 years ago.

Recently-ish (2013) we had a remaster of FFX and X-2 on PS3 and later PS4 and Vita to keep that cast relevant. From my understanding it sold pretty well, and there was an outpouring of love and nostalgia which... didn't save it from getting blown out by Chrono Trigger in 2015. Welp.

Regardless, Yuna was able to stay more relevant than Master Chief, who she rode the coattails of in 2007 but was able to curbstomp in 2013. She then went on to get SFF'd by Yuna and lost to Dragonborn, but I believe this speaks more to the power of Skyrim and the weakness of Chief than to any "gains" Yuna may have had.

If anything, Yuna has dropped significantly in the past few years. She missed out on 2008 and in 2010 she lost pretty hard to Zack Fair. Lower vote totals and time do not seem kind to Yuna as people who are passingly familiar with her have disappeared and people who have stuck around are more interested in other characters.

If the field for the next contest is significantly smaller then it might be better if Yuna sits it out. If we're getting another huge multi then it'd be good to see her return. She's not awful, just past her prime.

Vyse
Last Contest: 2013
Last Games: Sonic All-Star Racing Transformed (2012), Valkyria Chronicles (2008)

Ah, the ol' Fodder Line. When I was younger and Skies of Arcadia was fresh, I thought for sure it would be remembered as a timeless classic that everyone would revere for years to come.

I guess that was true for like... 5 years. Maybe 10?

You'd be hard-pressed to find younger/newer gamers who are familiar with Skies now. Even ones that are more into the "culture" than just playing Fortnite or w/e. A fanbase needs fresh content to stay active, and to draw in new people you need that active fanbase creating fan content and shilling for the IP as a way to pull in new people

But who is doing that for Skies still? The fanbase was already niche, and now what's left is silent. There's no talks of a remake, reboot or sequel, so I think it's easy to brush Vyse off. His only wins were against Laharl and, uh, Adol Christin. Who?

Laharl vs Vyse 2018: Who ya got?

(the answer is Laharl)

Tommy Vercetti
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002, with ports in '03, '10, '12, and '13)

you know what's funny? Tommy Vercetti's seeding progression:

2003: 3 seed
2004: 5 seed
2005: 6 seed
2007: No seeds
2008: Did not participate
2010: Did not participate
2013: 21 seed

Here's a fun excerpt from his contest history page courtesy of Ulti:

For a character that was once respected, [2013] was quite embarrassing for Tommy Vercetti. Getting doubled by a character like Crash, it is sometimes better for a character to never show up again rather than get crushed like this. Not only has Vercetti been out of the series for over a decade it seems GameFAQs no longer cares about the series. Grand Theft Auto V may change the perception of the series, but it is too late for Vercetti.

To add more context, Tommy not only lost to Crash (badly), but he also lost to Wheatley (badly). Sure Portal 2 (2011) was fresher than Vice City, but Tommy was the main character of one of the biggest games in one of the biggest franchises ever. He beat Donkey Kong for crying out loud! Although everyone's beaten Donkey Kong at some point or another, or at least has beaten someone who has beaten Donkey Kong. "Six Degrees of Beating Donkey Kong," that's a fun game to play.

People still love Tommy, but his one and only appearance is distant enough that the love is no longer potent enough for people to care, even if they do in the deepest parts of their hearts. I remember how excited people were when Rockstar first started showing glimpses of Michael in GTAV. Tons of people were CONVINCED he was Tommy and they were pumped.

But then he wasn't Tommy. Rockstar stated in some dev diary that Michael was "the GTA character that already beat his campaign and was retired," and I can't help but think he's just an extension of Tommy. So, with Rockstar basically moving on from Tommy, can we ever hope to see him return in a game and return to glory in a contest setting?

No. Partially because Rockstar doesn't care and partially because there wasn't any glory to begin with.

Kite
Last Contest: 2003
Last Game: .hack//G.U. Last Recode (2017), Project X Zone 2 (2015)

I have a friend who absolutely loves .hack and shelled out like $90 to get the very rare Vol. 4. One time I watched him play it for a bit and I can confidently say that I have no idea what anybody sees in this series.

.hack is incredibly niche, it's an MMO without actually being online, and while it does have a very dedicated fanbase, the rarity of a lot of its games and the style of the game make it hard for it to bring new people in. Hell, the fanbase couldn't even get Kite into the oversaturated 2013 field.

Even with Recode, a remaster of the first three games, coming out last year, there didn't see to be any buzz or attention anywhere. We didn't get some magical resurgence. The games were honestly never that good; they appealed to certain people but for the most part they got middling reception every single time. How did these things keep getting made?

Zelda
Last Contest: 2013
Last Game: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

If you can't see Nintendo ever changing the title of "Legend of Zelda" to "Legend of Link" then you can't ever see Zelda dropping in power in these things.

What I said about Link before applies here: Breath of the Wild took characters (other than Ganondorf) who we thought had hit their ceilings and shattered right through them.

I've seen tons of articles proclaiming "YAAAAAS, QUEEN! ZELDA'S FINALLY HER OWN CHARACTER" in reference to her actually having pants and not a skirt in BotW. I'm... not sure why people see it that way as she's still being held captive by Ganondorf. Is it because she's in a bunch of cutscenes and is voice acted now? Is it actually the pants?

Regardless, Zelda was already on a hot streak after coming within spitting distance to Charizard in 2013, and who knows where she'll be now that she has practical legwear?

ZenOfThunder posted...

an obscure WoW meme beat Ramza

please stop

my heart can't take it

ZenOfThunder posted...

There's no talks of a remake, reboot or sequel

please stop

my heart can't take it

(seriously Sega you can make HD versions of Shenmue but not Skies of Arcadia?)

also Zelda was pretty cool in Breath of the Wild but I still don't see myself ever really voting for her over characters I actually know unless I just flat out hate them

Mr. Resetti
Last Contest: 2003
Last Game: Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival (2015)

This is how we end the 2003 newcomers? Mister-f***in'-Resetti?

I actually really gotta take a dump so I'll make this as quick as I can:

I said everything I needed to in Tom Nook's writeup: Villager and Isabelle would be prime AC reps if we absolutely needed one. Villager has smash and Isabelle is by far the most beloved character in the franchise now.

Alright, I'm going to go take a s*** now, and it'll probably look better than Mr. Resetti.

Mr. Resetti needs to be playable in Smash.

for real tho mr. resetti is a character intended to intentionally punish and annoy the player, why would anyone vote for him

only Nintendog slightly outweighs him in the "worst assist trophy" category

ZenOfThunder posted...

But then you get this poll: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/5728

How is that possible if 33% of the site has never played FFVI? Surely more have played FFVII. Where is this love coming from? Anti-votes for VII? Are people peer-pressured into voting for FFVI because it's the "cool thing to do?" Is it some kind of retro charm?

But then in 2015 FFVI loses to FFVII

The poll that you linked to suffered from a terrible poll question. The way that poll question was worded implies that potential voters need to have played both games in order to vote since the wording "which is better" in the poll question is asking voters to compare both games and make a decision on which game to vote for. For a voter to properly compare 2 games and decide which one is better, they have to have played both games first. In a contest match, voters will vote in a FFVI/FFVII match even if they have only played one of those games.

There is a very large difference between "which is better" and "which one is your favorite" (or similar wording) when used in a poll question. When the poll question uses the wording "which is better", it causes voters to think more carefully about the good and bad parts of each game and also throw out the nostalgia goggles before making their decision. This doesn't happen with polls that use the wording "favorite" in the poll question.

ZenOfThunder posted...

UltimaterializerX posted...

Hogger is not obscure at all.

ulti i know you love Ramza and FFT but please

He's the first actual boss for millions and millions of people. He's only obscure or a meme if you never played WoW or Hearthstone.

alright let's nominate Gohma and and Guard Scorpion then, by that logic neither are obscure and deserve a spot in a contest

it's a shame that Hogger got a winnable match and Midgar Zolom didn't

ZenOfThunder posted...

alright let's nominate Gohma and and Guard Scorpion then, by that logic neither are obscure and deserve a spot in a contest

I wouldn't be against either. Those are extremely well-known characters. "Obscure" is a word reserved for very, very little-known items. Professor Azimuth from The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble is an obscure character. Hogger is not.

Hell if we got Edge from Panzer Dragoon Saga into a contest, 99% of voters would wonder why Edge from FF4 took his balaclava off.

ZenOfThunder posted...

I'm... not sure why people see it that way as she's still being held captive by Ganondorf.

It's technically the other way around. Zelda is the one holding Ganon captive and preventing him from escaping into the world.

I still remember Albion claiming to rally for Hogger all day, and when he lost ground, he claimed it was because he went to make a sandwich or something.

Yeah even though he made one topic on one forum that no one read.

ZenOfThunder posted...

alright let's nominate Gohma and and Guard Scorpion then, by that logic neither are obscure and deserve a spot in a contest

You snark, but I'm THIS CLOSE to leading a rally for the Great Deku Tree.

I mean we might as well

no point in nominating stuff we actually like and think would do well anymore

I agree, unfortunately I just don't see Board 8 renominating Epona again...and she'd probably get poor bracket placement in the second round again too.

Oh well.

Anything we rally is kind of a lock to get in at this point anyway.

Adol Christin getting into a Character Battle was super epic, and I haven't even played any Ys game... yet (I love its music though).

HaRRicH posted...

I agree, unfortunately I just don't see Board 8 renominating Epona again...and she'd probably get poor bracket placement in the second round again too.

Oh well.

Thank God.

I'd take Zelda as the top non-Pokemon Nintendo midcarder at this point.

Like:
Zelda > Luigi > Ganondorf > Kirby => Bowser > Yoshi > Fox >>>>> rest

Fox doesn't deserve to be in the same conversation with the rest of them. He'd get slaughtered by all of them.

AxemRedRanger posted...

I'd take Zelda as the top non-Pokemon Nintendo midcarder at this point.

Like:
Zelda > Luigi > Ganondorf > Kirby => Bowser > Yoshi > Fox >>>>> rest

Dark Link is a separate character. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Well yeah, Dark Link is a separate character.

Fox is definitely not quite on the level with the other six but I think he's probably still closer to Yoshi (or whoever of the other six you'd rank lowest) than he is to, uh, pick your favorite out of like Captain Falcon/Donkey Kong/Meta Knight/Epona?

And while he lost without putting up a real fight, Yoshi definitely didn't slaughter him in 2008.

Serious question: Who would you take losing to Adol Christin?

I think DK/Fox would be closer than Fox against whoever the lowest Nintendo midcarder is.

Advokaiser posted...

Serious question: Who would you take losing to Adol Christin?

Chester and Tanner.

LeonhartFour posted...

Advokaiser posted...

Serious question: Who would you take losing to Adol Christin?

Chester and Tanner.

...

I regret having asked that.

Although... Tanner's pretty cool, if you have played the Driver series.