Lurker > v_charon

Almost all of these are really dumb, usually alt-right held beliefs. Imagine that! Hard to pick just one...
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Truly smilin'

The Nightmare Before Christmas
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Now it's truly over.
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Voted.
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The X-Files
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Just 1, though my mom is adopted so I've only met her mother once.

Surprisingly enough, her father is still alive too so I have 1 great-grandparent living as well.
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Jeff the Killer
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So checking the bottom 10 in overall stats:

Meliadoul Tingel
Edea Kramer
Cyan Garamonde
Interceptor
Yang Fang Leiden
Amarant Coral
Kimahri Ronso
Vaan
Gabranth
Shuyin

Is anyone other than me going to be pushing for one of these to return next year? I feel like Cyan always gets passing interest but last time he was in... lulz were had. I feel like Kimahri really doesn't deserve that too, but X's cast is really loaded (in my opinion, it is the best cast). Kimahri would be a good character in any other game in the series I think, but he pales a bit in comparison to the stacked cast X has and it hurts his ability to perform very well in these. He has some really good, memorable moments in the game though, at least in my book. Not that I'm trying to be his advocate here (if I like the character, I prefer they not make it back unless someone's actually willing to be their benefactor).
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Oh right, I forgot Rinoa since I was only using the hard boots from last year as a reference sheet. Strange there was really no interest in her this year? She's probably a lock for next year too yeah, provided the same people are around.
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Looking ahead to next year's class (assuming no change is made to the boots due to BD's inevitable remvoval), here are my predictions:

76. Seifer Almasy
77. Gaius van Baelsar
78. Larsa Ferrinas Solidor
79. Terra Branford
80. Sephiroth
81. Reno
82. Laguna Loire
83. Edward Chris von Muir
84. Vincent Valentine
85. Cidolfus Orlandeau

Of this year's soft boot class, I'm predicting returns by:

Vincent: Presumably Koala plays more next year. Vincent is a mainline character from one of the most popular games. He's not in the remake obviously and had nothing to gain from it this year, but I have a hard time believing he doesn't return. I'm assuming his main backer is playing next year and you really only need one truly devoted fan to make it through nominations.

Laguna: A widely popular character, probably 8's most reliably strong performer next to Squall. Should have no trouble.

Sephiroth: The "year of Sephy" will surely be upon us for the umpteenth time. It isn't SMFFFC is Sephiroth isn't around to fail spectacularly in some manner.

Terra: Probably the most polarizing character in the entire contest but certainly will be pushed back in by the remaining VI faithful. She is the defacto main character of the game, a member of the ECC and has still never won. There will always be people interested in her no matter what her history in this contest looks like. I have to wonder if she wasn't raytan's favorite would her reputation be what it is here.

Reno: LOL

I think the rest might get forgotten. Edward was probably a one and done sort of character and he was never going to do very well this year, and being soft booted was like the worst case scenario for him. He was absent for a very long time before this for a good reason. I could be wrong and perhaps his run did create some sort of longevity for him in SMFFFC, but I'm banking on people moving on to new things. In Seifer's case I really hope if he does get pushed in again that someone decides to main him. His contest history is truly pitiful and for a character that ranks somewhere on the edge of my top 25 I hate to see him suffer. I'd rather just not see him at all. Characters like Larsa, Gaius and Orlandu are really up to the whims of people. In Gaius' case I could see him returning because the person I associate with him should be free to use all his nominations on him, but I'm not 100% convinced he will, and if he doesn't there's really no chance of him returning. I don't think the general XIV crowd cares much about him.

So that's 5 I'm predicting return for now... the other 23:

1. Selphie (Redemption project vehicle. Early prediction from me is a top 10 appearance)
2. Yuna (Redemption project vehicle. Another top 10 contender, I predict.)
3. Balthier (Probably. Though he's never supported by anyone, he's too generally popular)
4. Noctis (I'm not sure if XV will ever do anything here, but another year will go by so people can play the game)
5. Wakka (I really don't want to see it because of the chances he gets booted, but Wakka has some fans out there.)
6. Shuyin (I personally guarantee this one is a "shoe-in")
7. Fran
8. Hope

Beyond that I really can't make a good guess. There's always some random push I don't foresee usually. I imagine the FFXIV crowd might push another one or two in here, depending if they forget Gaius or not. XV could always have an entrant or two more but that didn't happen this year so I'm not sure how sound of a prediction that is, so I won't make it. I'm just confident with seeing these 13 next year.
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Only the soulless could do that.
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Yes, for channels I regularly visit. YouTube is a major part of my entertainment so I want to support those that entertain me, so they can continue to do so.
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That one time Steiner won... wonder if there was a big push for someone else.
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MartinFF7 posted...

Plus, set start times or start windows neuters the pre-ping "early crew" since everyone's on a level playing field.

Since... when? As I said in my first post about this, nearly every round was the same. The same 4 people were almost always in before anyone else so how was anyone "neutered" there? Yeah it might look level because everyone votes in the first 5 minutes but seconds matter in this contest and many, many times throughout this run the final hour lasts just a minute or so and the people that were there, always there, benefited.

If people really believe "chaotic" round times would benefit the same people and they'd "dominate", then what's the problem with trying it out? Those people already dominate this contest as it is.
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I mean if you put Link in the contest and he had a strong performance I don't think that would mean Link should be here.
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The OGs understand.
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It's kinda sad so many people are interested in pre-announced, scheduled, scripted rounds. It makes it all very, very boring. You can see all the results coming from miles away that way. I really miss the old way when no one was safe any given day. For fans of less popular characters, it's a treat to see behemoths sometimes get surprised.
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Hbthebattle posted...

I assume all the people who want BD gone are also in favor of banning the dolled up Saga and Mana games

I mean if people bring it up, sure. I don't think they should be in either (but they aren't in currently so it's irrelevant at the moment). They are at least called "Final Fantasy" in the west though, for what it's worth. There's at least an argument to be made; there is no argument for Bravely.
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Other suggestions:

We need more variance on start times. I realize it may make some people upset or someone might say "this contest takes too much of my time already", but really, did no one else find it really annoying every round with a short last hour was decided by the same 3-4 people? Test the theory of them not using voting scripts by widening the start times. Early morning, late night, etc. Make it so people can't, in theory, sit on the board refreshing and get in within 7 seconds, prior to the Discord ping, every time. Yes, anyone on Discord will still have the advantage but that sort of advantage predates Discord anyway. For years I've had people sending me text messages for round start times. All that is fine and you can't police it, but it was never something that allowed the literal same people to always be first. Even the Discord ping wouldn't do that as it goes out to a lot of people, and not all of them are going to respond in the same order every time. This year was, in my opinion, as bad as the late raytan contests when amy knew all the start times and used her alts to vote early as well. It really isn't fun to watch 4 people decide the fate of every round that's close. I'm sure they loved it but for me, it got very tiresome to watch people beat the Discord ping and post within 10 seconds for rounds on end. The only way to test the theory they aren't just using a script to vote is to expand the round times like in the days of raytan/FFD. We need rounds after midnight and rounds before noon.
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1. Remove Bravely Default. It is not a Final Fantasy game. The notion of it being included was mostly based on people searching for "new and exciting" things to put into the contest I think. It being listed on the FF wikia (a fan curated website) was ridiculous in making it eligible. If you check a more well-known fan-curated website with arguably a more objective approach (Wikipedia), you'll notice Bravely Default is not listed under "spin-offs" on the "List of Final Fantasy video games" page. It should be banned from future use and the characters in should be removed. I'd also argue that any stats collected by the characters should be stricken from the books as well. I think nominations like these have been realized as a mistake and we shouldn't have to acknowledge it, imo.

As for what to do with the extra 3 spots next year, I think the most simple answer would be to just have 28 spots instead of 25. No need to change the soft/hard boots that happened this year. It may please some people, but really, it isn't the most fair thing to do I think.

2. Use current/standard for all. No special treatment.
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Squall 10
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Frollo > Scar >>> Jafar > Ursula > Hades > Gaston >>>>>>> Clayton > McLeach > Ratcliffe > Shan Yu

Frollo and Scar are elites in my book, near perfect antagonists in every way. The next four are all pretty good, I like them a lot. There are elements where they could be improved a bit though, in different ways depending on the character. After that there's a huge drop off. Those 4 just aren't particularly interesting, and in the latter two's case just outright bad villains. Ratcliffe is presented as a silly joke and the only good thing about him is Savages. Shan Yu has no redeeming qualities as a villain; he's a near faceless, story-devoid black hole of charisma. I'm not sure how Mulan as a film still manages to be good with him in it. A testament to the rest of the cast and songs I guess.
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Squall 9
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Godzilla
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Squall 8
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Squall 7
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Squall 6
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Squall 5
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Oh.

Squall 4
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Squall 3
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Squall 2
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Squall 1
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Jason
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Squall
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In between Tifa and Sephiroth's early elims but before Jessie's.

(I'm joking don't be upset!)
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Here's to my last thing standing going far I guess! I'm a little surprised still at the early exits for Alan Wake and SH4, though I'm pleasantly surprised at how well Song of Horror managed to finish. Very overlooked game, didn't deserve to be.
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I definitely agree with that too. Squall himself has been done in numerous times in a similar way. A lot of his runs into the top 10 have ended because of what else is left at that time (often it's Tidus or some other VIII character).
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For the record, I don't think Tifa needed the remake to do well. She's always had the potential for runs like this and I still feel with the correct circumstances, she's a potential winner. Until this year she didn't really have a main backer that was highly involved. I think the most I can think of yearly is lhg and I wouldn't consider lhg "hardcore" when it comes to this. She has a lot of people who like her as a secondary option, but usually the first options of those people do so well (Kefka comes to mind as an example) that Tifa really never gets a chance to get a real push. If you check her stats history there's a lot of middle-upper finishes for her; a sign of a character who is well liked but lacks a serious backer.

I'm not like trying to inspire you to stay and participate hardcore forever, but I mean that led to me getting married, moving to a big city and procuring a great job so SMFFFC can be good for something...
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I mean it depends how big of a boost you were looking for. I think I was picturing her pulling off a winning run, and well, yeah it didn't happen.

Though I concede apparently she got the biggest boost from the game overall so perhaps we were both right in a way.
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Good luck in your endeavors to distance yourself from this contest.

You'll need it.
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Eiko isn't a love-or-hate character.
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I think reposting the bounty post every 5 minutes in the last topic was the breaking point.
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Looking to trade Squall for Delita tomorrow, if any Delita savers need a trade.
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Or whatever.
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th3l3fty posted...

Delita saver looking for a Squall saver interested in trading tomorrow

I'll take this.
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Squall
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At what point can the community rule be used against spamming?
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Tifa
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Who are the top 10 in the new stats? Is Seymour the top X character or do Rikku or Tidus have a better ranking?
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pjbasis posted...

did charon start playing at CXIII

I've played since before he was in. It was my requests to raytan that even put him in the contest originally.
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Truly smilin'