Lurker > transience

I've done a Bard solo on Sandworm. it's painful. I think you can get Mighty March before then, yeah? maybe that + a lot of potions and good menuing can make that happen without needing to be level 30.

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xyzzy

I'm heading into world 2 with Summoner/Geo/Beast/Bard. pretty easy thanks to Summoner, though Archeoavis's last form gave me some trouble until I went and grabbed a Sand Bear.

we have a board, by the way: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/1101-final-fantasy-v-four-job-fiesta

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xyzzy

if someone interested in learning wants to play me, I can try to offer some advice:

https://lichess.org/mT5fN7AK


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xyzzy

what self respecting parent hasn't already bought their kid minecraft

my kid went one further today and demanded that I buy him terraria

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xyzzy

just wait until you see the last room

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xyzzy

I've grown to really adore Farewell, but that first time felt like an endless climb that just never ended. it felt like I kept running into my absolute skill ceiling, only to finally push through and get confronted with another daunting challenge. that struggle is really profound, or I thought so.

it still kicks the hell out of me, but the second time is a little more manageable. you're about two thirds of the way through, so keep on pushing and most importantly, don't be afraid to put it down and come a few hours later.

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xyzzy

I finished all the B sides and am at 174 strawberries. gotta find the last one in chapter 5 (augh finding them all in this level is a pain) and then i'm off to do Farewell again. super excited to give that a second try.

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xyzzy

Tephra Cave! I was 22. there's another spot that took me from 43 to 50.

I put it in expert mode though because sleepwalking through the next 20ish hours didn't seem like it'd be a lot of fun.

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xyzzy

that's a great section in Farewell

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xyzzy

oh yeah HM is a true believer thanks to that. once you get him onboard, you can sit back and let the machine run itself.

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xyzzy

haha, the shadow hearts hype was me and it was mostly a joke to try to harass HM that ended up taking off. I mean, it was kyle bowen too but he was annoying in every way. I don't think anyone played that game because of him.

Xenoblade has gotten a little obnoxious in a Symphonia kind of way, but at least it's a good game.

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xyzzy

yeah, dropping that on you after not having to do it all game at the end of a marathon like that is a little unfair. but once you do 9, the end of 8c isn't even that notable.

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xyzzy

I've been playing this too. beat 6b tonight. only 290 deaths! progress!

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xyzzy

everything looks doable in Celeste when you watch a video.

remember, Giggs, you can turn on assist mode and push through if you dislike the Core gimmick. it's not a bad thing! also, you can do the first half of Farewell without needing all the hearts.

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xyzzy

I liked 8c. if I had to object to one, it'd be 3c or 5c.

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xyzzy

that said, here is my first chapter 9 attempt

https://twitter.com/necta_rines/status/1172998076904046592

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xyzzy

and I'm surprised you haven't done 9 yet. 9 is hard, but not C hard and there's a ton of new stuff there.

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xyzzy

hmm. I don't think any A is harder than a B or a C.

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xyzzy

I actually missed the jump in 7c too out of pure excitement but the game is nice enough to let you respawn at the old woman. phew.

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xyzzy

good luck with 8C. if you really focus all your energy on overcoming it, you can pull off amazing moves like I did.

https://twitter.com/necta_rines/status/1173365144241393664


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xyzzy

there's only one right answer here and it's sephiroth

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xyzzy

tutorial fatigue feels like it would be a real thing for a first-timer. it was already really dense with mechanics and now there's even more layered on.

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xyzzy

hey Para, my soon to be 7 year old asks me every day if it's July 17th yet because he's dying to play the new Paper Mario. would this be appropriate for a kid? you mentioned it was a much harder game.

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xyzzy

# of matches isn't interesting enough to make a visualization, so here it is

Super Smash Bros. Melee 19
Final Fantasy X 18
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 17
Final Fantasy VII 17
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 15
Chrono Trigger 13
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 13
Resident Evil 4 13
Metal Gear Solid 3 13
Super Mario Bros. 3 12
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 12
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 12
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 12
Super Mario World 11
Super Mario 64 11
Final Fantasy VI 11
Fallout 3 11
Metroid Prime 11
Metal Gear Solid 10
Super Mario RPG 10
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 10
Persona 4 10

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xyzzy

yeah, it's Zelda.

zelda 3406248
final fantasy 3122385
mario 2113934
smash 1368346
metal gear 1228982
pokemon 794812
chrono 697061
metroid 676796
kingdom hearts 606410
gta 568104
resident evil 556302
elder scrolls 496004
mario rpg 485222
sonic 459570
fallout 450363
undertale 439538
halo 409458
mass effect 323024
persona 314951
starcraft 298163
half-life 285838
tetris 266444
goldeneye 261296
mega man 250885
castlevania 242291

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xyzzy

anyway, 14 is Sonic. the single biggest surprise to me is that Sonic 2 is #26 in votes, the highest total for a game that made 7 matches. it's above Tetris (27), MGS4 (28), Goldeneye (29), KH2 (30), and Super Metroid (31). some of that is due to Undertale but it got less votes in 2015 than 2004 or 2009.

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xyzzy

Tales - 42
Half-Life - 21
God of War - 28

there's a few ways to handle the Mario RPG games. I ended up putting Mario RPG and Paper Mario into a general Mario RPG category, since spiritually I think that's correct, and that adds up to #13.


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xyzzy

you've got most of em. of the ones guessed:

FF - top 2
Zelda - top 2
Mario - 3
Smash - 4
MGS - 5
Pokemon - 6
Chrono? - 7
Metroid? - 8
KH? - 9
GTA? - 10
Resident Evil - 11
Elder Scrolls - 12
Fallout - 15
Undertale - 16
Halo? - 17
Mass Effect - 18
Persona? - 19
Starcraft - 20
Portal - 27

FF and Zelda are pretty close so I'll let you guys pick which one is ahead.

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xyzzy

GTA's in the top ten for games. there's a lot of em, they've been around a long time, and they always get overseeded.

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xyzzy

it's vyse even when it's not vyse

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xyzzy

honestly, that's not a fall. that's a massive spike that lasted one year, kinda like Chief's.

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xyzzy

that's not too bad of a guess. the lowest series you guessed is 27th which is probably better than I would have done.

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xyzzy

in other words, good luck trying to predict the top 15 series according to vote totals

you'll get the top 6 or 7, but after that it's a free for all

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xyzzy

I've actually been looking at that. there are some game franchises that, well, let's just say that games != characters

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xyzzy

31 gurus picked it to win

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xyzzy

Final Fantasy VII | Ocarina of Time

the viz shows this one well - FF7 has a pretty sizable lead until the 2015 run swung it to OOT by very slim margins.

Final Fantasy X | Super Smash Bros. Melee

FFX was actually ahead after the CT/Melee match by a few votes. Melee's BS semifinals run ended up making this not especially close, with Melee ahead by about 150k and not likely to lose that edge anytime soon.

Super Mario Bros. 3 | Super Mario World | Super Mario 64

these guys are 7-8-9 in the rankings but it isn't super close.

Mario 3 - 550,537
Mario World - 513,541
Mario 64 - 469,412

if Mario 64 doesn't get slammed by Ocarina in 2004, it's probably ahead. Mario 3 edges out Mario World thanks to putting up the best result in 2009's round 1. it helps when you face brutal competition. I can remember picking Mario 3 in my Crew writeup with like 118% or something.

Undertale | Starcraft

this actually isn't close at all.

Undertale - 439,538 - 11th place
Starcraft - 288,771 - 25th place

Metroid Prime | Super Metroid

this is maybe closer than you would think because Super Metroid had a killer round 1 in 2004 before getting annihilated by LTTP. Super Metroid has one of the most cursed paths in contest history, always running into Nintendo SFF, but it's not too far behind despite all that.

Metroid Prime - 310,099 - 23rd place
Super Metroid - 250,193 - 31st place

Final Fantasy VI | The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

FF6 was never behind Wind Waker, though it was close after 2010. they were only separated by a few thousand votes when their 2015 match happened, and FF6 never looked back.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim - 230,491 - 36th place
Oblivion - 191,047 - 42nd place

this is one of the few matchups that actually flipped during the 2020 contest. Skyrim was behind about 50,000 votes coming into GOTD2 but picked up 98,150 votes in 2020, good for third in the contest.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl | Pokemon RBY

fun fact: Brawl actually got the most votes during GOTD. I think it's the only contest entrant that didn't win its contest but got the most votes, second bracket types of results notwithstanding. Brawl was a monster in the day, and was only 15,000 votes behind Melee despite not being in the 2004 contest.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past | Chrono Trigger

I think this result might have flipped if CT had made its 2015 run.

Metal Gear Solid 1 | Metal Gear Solid 3 | Resident Evil 4

RE4 - 360,669 votes - 17th place
MGS1 - 333,600 votes - 19th place
MGS3 - 332,947 votes - 20th place

RE4 has a surprisingly good set of results thanks to really fortuitous bracket placement. it made round 4 or better in three straight contests.

MGS3 was painfully close to beating MGS1 in total votes despite not being in the 2004 bracket, and would have done it if it could have gotten by Mario RPG in 2015. instead it loses out by less than 7,000 votes.

The Legend of Zelda | The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Zelda 1 - 433,953 votes - 12th place
Majora's Mask - 422,085 votes - 13th place

I didn't post my predictions but I had Zelda 1 in the top 10 until I dropped it to 11th for Undertale. (neither made it, of course). Zelda 1 had the best blowout of 2004 round 1, and also the best blowout of 2004 round 2.

Majora would be on top of it had proper 24 hour matches instead of 12 hour ones.

Fallout 3 | Super Mario RPG

as someone else said, making it to the semifinals in 2010 > making it to the semifinals in 2015. Mario RPG had the benefit of making the 2004 bracket but got unlucky and ran into Chrono Trigger too early. though honestly, with division by era it would have run into LTTP or FF6 early and still gotten rocked, so maybe it's really only unlucky for coming out on the SNES. its real struggle was getting stuck with Goldeneye in 2009, a game that it's ahead of in total votes.

Metal Gear Solid 2 | Shadow of the Colossus

the following is not a typo.

Metal Gear Solid 2 - 207,474 votes, 39th place
Shadow of the Colossus - 204,738 votes, 40th place

Final Fantasy VIII | Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy IX - 231,725 votes - 35th place
Final Fantasy VIII - 159,934 votes - 49th place

for the record, here are the Final Fantasy games in vote order:

Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Dissidia: Final Fantasy

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xyzzy

that doesn't happen without Undertale boosting votes like crazy

to say nothing about it not happening if Melee doesn't beat FF7

damn you 2015

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xyzzy

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/2533654/

I extended this one to 20 and color coded the bars by franchise. enjoy!

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xyzzy

I'll give people a couple more hours if they want to guess

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xyzzy

if you want bonus points, you can add FF1 and FF4 to that one!

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xyzzy

okay, I have some data. I need to do some work to get it ready for visualization. I should have it ready sometime this evening.

for now, some more trivia. who has more votes?

Final Fantasy VII | Ocarina of Time

Final Fantasy X | Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Mario Bros. 3 | Super Mario World | Super Mario 64

Undertale | Starcraft

Metroid Prime | Super Metroid

Final Fantasy VI | The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Super Smash Bros. Brawl | Pokemon RBY

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past | Chrono Trigger

Metal Gear Solid 1 | Metal Gear Solid 3 | Resident Evil 4

The Legend of Zelda | The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Fallout 3 | Super Mario RPG

Metal Gear Solid 2 | Shadow of the Colossus

Final Fantasy VIII | Final Fantasy IX


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xyzzy

tell that to Pokemon

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
Pokemon Gold/Silver
Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal
Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal
Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal Version
Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver Version
Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow
Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow/Green Version
Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

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xyzzy

side rant: you know what's obnoxious? games with duplicate names. God of War and God of War are different games. so are Doom and DOOM.

I'm going to combine the remakes/remasters, too. it's not going to matter much but I'd rather have the same RE2 and Persona 4.

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xyzzy

by the way, I am taking top 10 votes predictions for games. I'll hopefully have it done by the end of the day.

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xyzzy

yeah, it's zero wing.

second is interesting though. you can quibble with the games if you want, but "mario rpg" is 0-8. that's Geno at 0-6 and Fawful at 0-2.


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xyzzy

heh, ff10 has had more character battle appearances than kingdom hearts, resident evil, street fighter, kirby or castlevania. it's only 2 behind the chrono series (and 1 behind chrono trigger!)

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xyzzy

I miscounted, it's actually .500

Auron - 17-10
Yuna - 7-7
Tidus - 5-10
Rikku - 3-5
Jecht - 2-1
Sin - 0-1

Total - 34-34


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xyzzy

FF8 has a winning record, yeah, because they just don't get their side characters in. we're not seeing Zell or NORG unfortunately.

FF10 has a losing record

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xyzzy

these guys are 0-26

Ramza
Cecil
Celes
Sin
Kain Highwind
Kuja
Rydia
Ultros
Cid Highwind
Vaan
Noctis
Locke
Midgar Zolom
Rinoa
Boko
Seifer

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xyzzy

wow, what the hell

FF7 is 125-48, and that includes stuff like the midgar zolom

that means that without FF7, FF is.. 80-102

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xyzzy