I rank 75 fictional characters by how good a friend they would be [ranking pt2]

Effort: 10. When the party is separated, Vyse tries hunting for treasure to buy a boat to search for them. He goes out of his way to avoid hurting innocents; when the party is confronted by a group of people whove been impersonating them (the leader even has the hilarious name Vize), Vyse insists they go fight on his ship to spare townspeople from becoming collateral damage. This in addition to his indomitable spirit, his thirst for adventure and his desire to protect everyone around him. I get the sense that Vyses creation was inspired in some part by fellow friend nomination Monkey D. Luffy, another pirate with a towering sense of Effort (and a scar under his left eye!). As with Luffy, Vyse will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals and protect his people. Like Luffy too, he values the freedom and agency brought on by a life on the high seas er, skies. As Vyse himself says, I want to see the worldI'm not going to rest until I've left my mark on it, and I won't let anything or anyone stand in my way. Vyse is, however, more of a traditional hero archetype than Luffy, and he has a strong sense of justice toward other people, motivating him to resist the corrupt empire. When he becomes captain of the Delphinus after seizing it from Prince Enrique, Vyses sense of responsibility is reaffirmed, but even before he gets a proper ship, he still has that justice-oriented mindset. This really plays out in the fate of Crescent Isle. Vyse is initially shipwrecked there, but when he gets off the island, he reclaims it, turning it into his base of operations. The other people Vyse recruits to the Blue Rogues populate the island, and it becomes an extension of Vyses other alphabet scores, since the crewmembers are all there directly because of him. But Crescent Isle is eventually destroyed by the enemy. And okay, I wasnt really sure where to put this, because its not directly his Effort, but its still reflective of the Effort hes put in by this point in the story. But everyone pitches in and rebuilds . Vyses friendship has laid the seeds of this Effort, and now the seeds are bearing fruit. Its a beautiful moment. His Effort, like his Backup, is unconditional. He will never abandon anyone, will never give up, will never be told he cant follow a dream. Vyse is exactly who you want your boss to be not a boss at all, but a co-conspirator, a companion, a friend. He is the living embodiment of friendship.

Total Score: 100!!!!

This is unuronically the best thing to happen to Skies of Arcadia in 12ish years

Excellent writeup for an excellent character

Hell yeah Vyse! The perfect friend!

andylt posted...

Hadrian sound awesome from that writeup, I might look up those books.

If you do let me know!

It's one of my favorite authors

I'm not sure if you have an idea on this... but I'm curious to see which friend from these 75 would be the highest in each category.

Meaning, of the friends that got 10 in a category, which is the STRONGEST 10 among them for each category?

Thank you for following along with my friend ranking!

This ranking has been such fun to put together. I hope youve enjoyed reading my takes as much as I enjoyed getting to know the characters.

Ive mentioned this throughout the topics, but please let me know if you have any ideas for other rankings I could do . I love making rankings In particular, Id love to eventually do another ranking like this, whether thats with more friends or another category of character. Please let me know your thoughts. You can also DM me on Discord if you'd rather talk to me that way.

One final bit of business: if you have previously come in first place in a ranking of mine, you are entitled to one bonus nomination for a future ranking of your choosing. This applies to Mega_Mana obviously but also to:

@Fluttershy_Pony [winner of my first VGM ranking]
@Snake5555555555 [winner of my game character ranking]
@PIayer_0 [winner of the Pokemon song ranking]
@Place [winner of the series by design ranking]
@azuarc [winner of the non-vgm album ranking]
@-Chaos-Zero- [winner of the 2024 VGM ranking]

So keep that in mind if you have any suggestions.

Thanks again and remember, stay friendly!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1389f29b.png

Zigzagoon posted...

I'm not sure if you have an idea on this... but I'm curious to see which friend from these 75 would be the highest in each category.

Meaning, of the friends that got 10 in a category, which is the STRONGEST 10 among them for each category?

Yes! This is absolutely something I want to put together soon.

Most effective fictional super/villain!

- Effectiveness at achieving their end goal - including setting one.
- Actual villainy scale for the setting (with "misunderstood protagonist in a story where everyone's a bastard" being low on the villainy scale, and puppy kicker sexual deviant also being low if they dont actually do anything in the grand scheme of the setting.)
- Relative power for their setting (and how they spin it if it's a weak power, or a mundane - also includes the setting's political clout)

Possibly some other categories?

YES!!! Vyse my boy! Skies of Arcadia is one of my all time favourite games growing up in no small part because of Vyse. Such a wonderful positive and optimistic character and absolutely one I would befriend if he were real.

If only I could get over my fear of heights, the one thing keeping me from wanting to live in his world rofl

Thanks for running!

I could use this topic right about now.

Delayed reaction, but it was a fun topic to read, thanks for running it.

https://youtu.be/YpFMgMGprRc?si=j0Dy4-5LG-RVyc_7

Note: I didn't even realize this was Vyse's theme. It was the music that played in my head when I saw the number one. I thought it was Delphinus' theme or a heading off on a new adventure/escape from Valua thing. Leave it to Vyse to have one of the most uplifting theme songs

I wonder what the likelihood of a Skies of Arcadia remake is

andylt posted...

I wonder what the likelihood of a Skies of Arcadia remake is

they keep saying they want to do it and nothing ever materializes

so it's probably 0

Forget a remake, Id take just a HD Remaster at this point.

Kecleon352 posted...

I have actually had multiple ideas for characters that, while I don't regret nominating the one I did, would have also liked to have seen put up just to see how they would rate on the scale. Some from before my final nomination, a couple after.

Maybe once the ranking is done I'll share my other potential candidates. I think that would be fun.

I'll be sharing this soon, btw. I just need to collect the ones I had come up with in a neat little pile instead of the scattershot assortment that I had before.

I really did think of quite a few fellas.

I've got an idea, which of the nominated friends do you think the top 10 would have the best chemistry with?

Thanks for doing this, rwlh. This topic really delivered! And congratulations to Vyse for the perfect score.

What a great topic it's been. I especially admire the way you committed yourself to learning a decent amount of these characters as to properly gauge them. Very admirable! And I also enjoy being reminded of why I enjoy many of these characters.

Great topics. I stopped commenting as much due to some rough stuff going on but I kept reading

great topic. I've been busy, but I did watch the first four episodes of epithet erased so far, and i am loving it. got so many books to read too~

Thanks everyone. I've been distracted with news this week but I plan on getting around to some "post-game content" soon. Glad you all enjoyed the ranking!

https://youtu.be/w68h6xetvvE

Rwlh, what kind of dark sorcery did you conjure to cause remasters of these games to suddenly decide to spawn into existence after you talked about it?

Kecleon352 posted...

https://youtu.be/w68h6xetvvE

Rwlh, what kind of dark sorcery did you conjure to cause remasters of these games to suddenly decide to spawn into existence after you talked about it?

Beware my powers~

Last thing (maybe!)

Each category had multiple friends with 10/10 scores. Heres the breakdown:

- Activity: 12/75 (16%)
- Backup: 15/75 (20%)
- Conversation: 6/75 (8%)
- Demeanor: 13/75 (17%)
- Effort: 22/75 (29%)

As we can see, Conversation was the hardest variable to get a 10 in, while Effort was the easiest.

But not all 10s are created equal. Here is my take on the absolute best of the best who was the best 10 out of the whole ranking?

This is totally subjective, though obviously its based on the analysis in the writeup. You are free to agree or disagree!

Best Activity:
1. Hobbes
2. Mabel Pines
3. Doraemon

These three friends have virtually unlimited A options. Hobbes takes the cake because of the sheer, endless power of Calvins imagination (though this assumes you get access to that, as I said in the writeup). Mabel exists in a weird and wonderful place and her personality will make anything fun. And Doraemon can pull virtually anything out of his futuristic bag of tricks.

Best Backup:
1. Missile
2. Samwise Gamgee
3. Kugrash

Big spoilers for all three of these, so go check out the writeups if you want to know more!

Best Conversation:
1. Zagreus
2. Vinny Gambini
3. Hadrian Blackwater

I went back and forth between Zag and Vinny for the top spot. I think Vinny has the silverest of silver tongues, but cant talk to everyone in a way that Zag can. He can strike up a conversation with literally anybody. Hadrian is the same way; hes probably the best overall listener in the ranking.

Best Demeanor:
1. Frog
2. Hadrian Blackwater
3. Bingo Heeler

Frog is, as I said, a perfect D friend: simple, earnest, charming, devoted. Hadrian sneaks in again as the most affable friend. And Bingo is just pure sunshine; even if you dont love kids, youll still have fun with her.

Best Effort:
1. Vyse
2. Andrew Martin
3. Homura Akemi

Between Vyse and Andrew, I asked myself whats stronger Effort: giving up something precious to be with someone, or lifting up someone to face something new with them? In the end, I sided with Vyse (though Andrews certainly no slouch!). Homura takes bronze for her tireless attempts at solving Madokas big problem.

Feel free to share any thoughts you have about these mini-rankings!

Ooooh! Very cool! Gogo Missile <3

Have you saved these write-ups somewhere? Since you've put a lot of effort into them, it would be a shame for them to be lost.

What do you have against dogs, though?

might as well bump this [2]

Watching Hazbin Hotel because of this topic.

Im enjoyinf it. The story is really interesting, though the songs are very hit or miss.