Board 8 > Character Battle X Contest Analysis Crew

(+) Yeah! (+)

Nice then.
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i still have kanz highlighted from 2013

good guy kanz, stay as long as you'd like
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https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7242

Vivi essentially puts up a 2013 result against Yu, which is good for the mage.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7243

Nothing really to say here, Aya is the stronger fodder.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7244

lol tidus. This is probably a combination of DK still being stronger (which 2013 hinted at) and Tidus getting weaker.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7245

Solid showing from Leon

Crew Predictions: 8/8

Next Round Thoughts: Vivi still looking to crush Aya, but DK/Leon could be a fairly close match if DK really is that much stronger now.

Crew Prediction Challenge:

Moltar: 8
transience: 8
Guest: 8
Leonhart: 7
Kleenex: 7

Crew Accuracy Challenge: garetha200 gets the point for Vivi, Leon gets the point for Aya, transience gets the point for DK, and transience gets the point for Leon

Guest: 4 (BetrayedTangy, SuperNiceDog, pjbasis, garetha200)
transience: 3
Leonhart: 1
Moltar: 0
Kleenex: 0
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who cares about accuracy anyway
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Round 1 Yoshi vs. Shantae

Moltars Analysis

Weve already seen enough of these strong character vs new fodder matches to know how this goes.

Shantae probably doesnt look super bad here because...well of her look. So at least shes got that going for her.

Moltars Bracket: Yoshi

Moltars Prediction: Yoshi 78%

transiences Analysis

This feels like the most obvious tripling ever. Shantae's pretty obscure.. she's technically from an older generation but I think she achieved most of her love as a well-respected modern indie a la Shovel Knight or something like that. Except on a much smaller scale. Yoshi cleans these kinds of dudes up.

transience's prediction: Yoshi with 76.99%

Leonharts Analysis

Whew, after writing about three tough matches in a row, its nice to have a bit of a breather! I dont even know what to say about this match, really. I think Yoshi has low-key been not very good the last few contests, but it wont matter for the first couple of rounds because he might have the weakest fourpack in the entire contest. I feel like if he drops below 70% in either of these matches, itd be a major disappointment.

Leonharts Vote: Yoshi

Leonharts Prediction: Yoshi with 75.75%

Kleenexs Analysis

Shantae is another one of those how did they make it into the contest entrants, but here she is and she gets to lose to Yoshi. Theres not a whole lot to say here beyond predicting how much Yoshi wins by. Hes kind of fluctuated a bit over the years, but hes still pretty high up on the Nintendo hierarchy, so I expect a pretty good showing.

Kleenexs Prediction: Yoshi with 81%

Guests Analysis - handsomeboy2012

Never done a contest analysis before, but I have no idea who Shantae is so it's safe to say Yoshi wins

Yoshi - 84%
Shantae - 16%

Crew Consensus: Yoshi eats up Shantae..wait
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love that guest writeup
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Well it's an efficient way to do it.

Am I doing the guest write-up to Geralt vs Rosalina or no?
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Round 1 Velvet Crowe vs. James Sunderland

Moltars Analysis

what even is this match part 2

Like Sully/Aya, this is a match where I could see people looking at it and going who. This means that other intangible factors matter here, like picture. James is some normal ass looking dude while Velvet is a girl. On this site, its pretty safe to say which one appeals more to voters.

Velvet has the higher seed too, which helps. Basically, the only hope James has here is that the voters have to know that hes from Silent Hill and like him enough to vote for him. I may be underestimating the voters (and based off over 15 years of contest history I have very good reason to do so), but Im having a hard time seeing SH fans going hard for James here. Apathy vote goes to the anime.

Moltars Bracket: Velvet

Moltars Prediction: Velvet 59%

transiences Analysis

This is... umm.. ummm..... ??????????? Someone I guess wins? Reasoning goes here? Percentages might have to add up to 100...?

transience's prediction? Velvet with 52%????

Leonharts Analysis

A Tales character not from Symphonia against the protagonist of a horror game not named Resident Evil? This match might be torture in more ways than one (even with registered votes counting double, the vote totals here are gonna be really bad), but somebody has to win this thing, right? I think I favor Velvet here for a couple of reasons. First, shes going to stand out like crazy in the match picture. Her design might be a mess, but its going to look way better than the Generic McDude (along with the Generic McName, to boot) that is James Sunderland.

Second, I think Velvets going to have the bracket advantage since shes the higher seed, and I think more of this site is familiar with Tales (even if only through Symphonia) than Silent Hill. That kind of thing matters in a fodder/fodder matchup because well probably see a lot of bracket voting here. Not to say James cant win here (because who even knows), but I expect this to go the way of Vyse/Laharl and Laharl/Neku in years past.

Leonharts Vote: Velvet Crowe

Leonharts Prediction: Velvet Crowe with 58.15%
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Kleenexs Analysis

Tales games outside of Symphonia dont get much respect on GameFAQs and I dont expect Berseria to necessarily buck that trend. Pretty much everything related to Silent Hill is also pretty much worthless. Make no mistake, both of these characters are probably bottom of the barrel fodder, and Yoshi is going to have a field day next round. Given that, I think Velvet takes this one. GameFAQs certainly prefers its RPGs over its Silent Hills, and in a battle of two no-names, give me the anime lady over the generic looking dude. Also Velvet is one of the best characters in this contest.

Kleenexs Prediction: Velvet with 55%

Guests Analysis - NowItsAngeTime

I know this is going to be a fodder match that no one is going to care a lot about but I think it's an interesting fun little fodder vs fodder match between two good characters from two good, but kinda niche games.

I think it'll be close-ish. Here are the advantages I think each character has over the other:

Velvet:
-TJF. She got the boobies. GameFAQs seems to like anime boobies (especially on 'mature' looking girls) and they are all on display here (meanwhile James is just normal looking white man)
-Berseria is more recent which could be its more on people's minds in terms of hype factor
-In the Tales community, Velvet is quite possibly the 2nd (if not 1st) overall well respected character in the whole series alongside Yuri Lowell. So she could get a rally from some places. Not enough to win R2 but enough to Win R1 for sure, and seems easier than it would to rally James.
-Top Option
-JRPG, higher likely chance a person on GameFAQs played it, especially since Tales games seem to constantly get nomination love every contest.

James
-His game has been out for WAY longer. And you know GameFAQs love those nostalgia games, especially since PS2 games are fairly popular on this site especially compared to games that released on PS3/PS4 that aren't AAA games.
-While James may not seem like the most appealing character, he's a really interesting character in the context of the game to where a rally COULD happen for him. The passion for him (or at least his game) is there.
-Silent Hill 2 actually still sticks out in terms of the most well respected horror games. Meanwhile while Berseria is up there in terms of how people like it in the Tales games, it's certainly not included in the most well respected JRPG list or anything.

But yeah neither option is going to be particularly strong, but I'm siding with TJF top option JRPG anime boobies.

I'm thinking:

Velvet: 54%
James: 46%

Crew Consensus: Hopefully we wont be eating Crowe after this match...wait
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I really wanted to pick the other guy just to break the obvious crew curse. weve had so many of these backfire due to groupthink over the years.
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Worked out for Aya/Sully though...!
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and that would suggest James as winner! unless you think its just an image thing
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The Mana Sword posted...

who cares about accuracy anyway

Then why even bother lmao

You could just throw things out like:

Kleenexs Prediction: Tidus with 66%

And pretend it's not embarrassing
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Round 1 Pikachu vs. Scorpion

Moltars Analysis

pokemon is here my dudes

Pikachu is coming off an insane 2013 contest where he beat Crono decisively (Magus was there but was mostly a nonfactor), beat Sora even with Pokemon Trainer Blue in the match, and then split evenly with Squirtle losing to Snake (with the two nearly taking 50% of the vote).

Scorpion wishes he had even one of those feathers in his cap. His 2013 run was one and done with a loss to Sora. That same Sora that Pikachu smoked next round. If neither character has changed from 2013, Pikachu could win big here.

The prevailing thought though is that Pokemon isnt going to be as strong as it was in 2013. Pokemon is still big, but it doesnt seem like the juggernant it was back in 2013 or 2015. Granted, thats just based on reactions from the newer games in the franchise, like Sun/Moon, Pokemon Go, and the Lets Go games. The nostalgia for Pikachu and Charizard and Mewtwo and not Squirtle might still be high, and this match will clue us in if thats the case. Scorpion is a pretty steady midcarder, so we should actually be able to get a pretty good read on the rat in this match.

Moltars Bracket: Pikachu

Moltars Prediction: Pikachu 61%

transiences Analysis

Oh, if only it were still 2002. Scorpion would win this easily and a whole lot of brackets would get busted. I'm actually most interested in this match today because I want to see how Pokemon looks. Pikachu is so hard to get a handle on. Pikachu is maybe probably the bracket favourite for this division? I'm not totally sure what a good number is here. Maybe if it/he can break 65%?

Scorpion just doesn't resonate all that much these days, with this crowd. I'm gonna go high on the rat. Pokemon turned 20 this year and most of the stink from the early years should have washed away.

transience's prediction: Pikachu with 66.66%

Leonharts Analysis

Ive never really had a solid feel for how strong Pikachu is. He occasionally puts up these crazy performances that make you think hes up there with the strongest non-Noble Nine Nintendo characters, but he always ends up getting hidden behind SFF, LFF, or something weird like facing sprite Snake. This year ought to give some clarity because hes got a comparable Nintendo character (presumably) and a character weve always known is pretty strong in Zero in this division.

On the other hand, we know what Scorpion is. Hes a decent midcarder. He always has been and probably always will be. Even if hes a bit of a mystery to me, Pikachus floor is still higher than Scorpions ceiling, so I dont think hes in any real danger of dropping the very first match. I expect a classic Ulti-style destruction here.

Leonharts Vote: Scorpion

Leonharts Prediction: Pikachu with 57.25%
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Kleenexs Analysis

Ever since Pikachu delivered us salvation from the demon lord L-Block, hes been on another level. POKEFEAR was running rampant last contest and I hope everyone is ready for another dose, because I think POKEFEAR is here to stay. Once upon a time, Scorpion would have been a force to be reckoned with. These days, I would not be surprised to see him look really bad here. Pikachu is a real threat to win this division (he may be the favorite - havent checked the Guru topic), and Scorpion is just a stepping stone on his way.

Kleenexs Prediction: Pikachu with 68%

Guests Analysis - ZeldaTPLink

I'm start this with a confession: in my first draft of the bracket, I had Mewtwo getting to the finals against Link.

That sounds dumb because it is, but it reflects the feeling a lot of people must be having right now: PokeFEAR.

In 2013, Pokemon sweeped the bracket. Pikachu beat Crono. Squirtle beat Cloud. Mewtwo beat Sonic and Sephiroth. They made us feel we could write a new Noble Nine list with Link + Snake + 7 random pokemon.

But 2013 was also the year Pokemon X & Y got released. Now let me tell you something: the hype of this game was huge. It was the first game for the 3DS. The first main series pokemon game in 3D (the closest thing we had to that was Colosseum for the Gamecube). And the first game to feature mega-evolutions, arguably the most game warping mechanic to be introduced in a long while. It's not unreasonable to assume the 2013 results were greatly influenced by that hype.

Fast foward to 2018. The biggest game we have this year is Let's Go Pikachu. I won't judge the quality of that game, but it's clearly a spin-off, and aimed at the crowd who played Pokemon Go. That isn't aimed at the GameFAQs audience at all. For all intents and purpose, I'll assume that game doesn't exist. Which means the newest main series game we have is Ultra Sun/Moon, released in 2017. The last game in the 3DS, released months after the Switch was out.

In 2013, the pokemon franchise was enjoying the start of a console generation. Now it's stuck at the end of it, waiting for Switch games that only come out next year. I'm looking at the activity in the pokemon boards and it feels smaller than I remember if being around the days of X/Y.

All of this is to justify my theory for this contest: expect a major pokemon deboost. It's not going back to its pathetic performance of the early contests, as those times have been surpassed. Rather, it should look more like in 2007-2010, when it was strong, but not ridiculous like in 2013. I'm going to pick against Pokemon in every debated match I see.

But Pikachu vs Scorpion is not one of those matches. Scorpion is a fighting game character, one that has no business trying to beat the mascot of a flagship Nintendo series.

The xtats give Pikachu 64% against Scorpion in 2013. I'm going to say Scorpion will embarrass Pikachu here, but not threaten him.

Pikachu 58%
Scorpion 42%

Crew Consensus: Pikachu shocks the competition
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I thought I had written too many words but the guy who did Velvet Who vs James Whathisface wrote even more so it's cool.

transcience posted...

and that would suggest James as winner! unless you think its just an image thing

I just think if you're forced to vote for everyone, why are you going to vote for some random dude named James (coupled with that hideous picture he's getting)

like they're both going to suck but I'll lean cult RPG over cult horror (although I'd have picked Pyramid Head in a heartbeat here)

also if Tales wins BT will lose his mind so that's a plus
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LeonhartFour posted...

also if Tales wins BT will lose his mind so that's a plus

The real best reason to vote for someone
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you're really driving home this vote for everyone thing. I don't think it's that much of a factor!

I don't think Silent Hill is cult horror like recent Tales games are cult RPG. but, you have to make that connection to a 20 year old character to even know that. who knows. who cares!

my biggest thought on this contest is that the JV contest barely matters because everyone is going to get destroyed by the big boys going at each other match after match.
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WitcherGeralt posted...

Am I doing the guest write-up to Geralt vs Rosalina or no?

you have to wait until the signup topic goes up, then hope no one beats you to it

transience posted...

you're really driving home this vote for everyone thing. I don't think it's that much of a factor!

I mean it kinda does matter in a match like this because this is the kind of match most people would just abstain on (it'd probably get the lowest vote total of the contest in a traditional format) but now they've got to come up with a reason to vote for someone
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Figure the last one is just filler anyway so have some

Lopen's Unofficial Analysisx4

Yoshi v Shantae
I mean that guy is right. Unfortunately I know who Shantae is, so I can't do that. She accelerated recharges in mercenaries 4. Oh, you mean, her game? No idea. Spoilers - Shantae is an Ultra Fodder.

Yoshi with 80.01%

Velvet Crowe v James Sunderland
We just saw the big league version of this with Aya Brea vs Sully. Less people care about either one of these. Animu girl's picture is better than Aya's and both of these characters have less of a fanbase than Sully and Aya Brea so pic vote will be in full effect. I expect this one to be ugly.

Velvet Crowe with 68.88%

Pikachu v Scorpion
Pokefear and Nintendofear are both stronger than ever, but I just have this feeling that Scorpion will hold up okay here. Not enough to threaten winning the match, or anything, but a dose of reverse Yellow SFF is just what Pikachu ordered. Matches like this are why I'm only working at an unofficial capacity. You want me to go back through the match history for these guys to pinpoint percentages? As if.

Scorpion with 40.65%

Kratos v John Marston
Now if I was still on the PS2 Nostalgia kick, I'd hype up Kratos to do a huge number here as an icon of the era. Now I'm just hyping him to do a huge number because this random cowboy dude isn't up to task. Check out Kratos's beard, man!

Kratos with 66.95%
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Lopen posted...

Scorpion with 40.65%

yeah that sounds about right
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I really want Scorpion to win okay, even if I can't delude myself into giving him a winning percentage
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trust me I do too

I just hope the rat doesn't go crazy like everybody else is predicting
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Voting for 4 people is so easy I kind of assume most people would do it regardlessly.

RYSFF I like it
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tennisboy213 posted...

WitcherGeralt posted...

Am I doing the guest write-up to Geralt vs Rosalina or no?

you have to wait until the signup topic goes up, then hope no one beats you to it

Ah ok
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Lopen might be onto something here

Pikachu usually stands out like crazy because he's so friggin' yellow but Scorpion negates that advantage
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Master Moltar posted...

In 2013, the pokemon franchise was enjoying the start of a console generation. Now it's stuck at the end of it, waiting for Switch games that only come out next year. I'm looking at the activity in the pokemon boards and it feels smaller than I remember if being around the days of X/Y.

It would be good to compare the X/Y boards to the Sun/Moon boards since they are both the first games in a new Pokemon generation.

Pokemon X board - 202890 topics, 2671770 messages
Pokemon Sun board - 69786 topics, 1291681 messages

The Pokemon Sun board has only about one third of the total topics and slightly less than half of the total messages of the Pokemon X board. I don't think this drop off has anything to do with the quality of the games. The boards in general have been losing activity over the past several years (mirroring the drop in vote totals as well).
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Pokemon is only getting more popular over time. SM has almost outsold XY despite releasing 3 years afterward AND having a third version killing its sales AND being released after the 3DS had been completely cracked by piracy.

That being said, LGPE is hated by much of the fanbase and is unlikely to push Pokemon any farther by itself.

Also unrelated, this statement is getting more and more controversial by the day but SM >>> XY
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I love SM but I feel like I'm in the minority.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I love SM but I feel like I'm in the minority.

The way the Pokemon fanbase works is that a generation becomes beloved two gens after its release. Thus, right now, the general opinion of the fanbase on XY is shifting upwards significantly, and SM is in the hot seat. But by Gen 9, SM will be much more appreciated
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And quality is relative. I feel like what carried XY was hype. A lot of people were disappointed with that game after it was out.

Tbh the thing is that I'm trying to rationalize what caused the 2013 pokefear. Why was pokemon bracket-busting like that in 2013 and not in say, 2010? The best reason I've heard so far is XY hype. And if that is the case, then I think that hype is gone now. Not because SM is worse, but we are already at the end of the SM generation, rather than the start of a new one.

Well I'd love to be proven wrong. I want to see the pokemon games becoming more mainstream.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Well I'd love to be proven wrong. I want to see the pokemon games becoming more mainstream.

what
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ZeldaTPLink posted...

Well I'd love to be proven wrong. I want to see the pokemon games becoming more mainstream.

Do you live under a god damn rock son?
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He wants the mons to become skynet and crush the soul of all free thought.
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LeonhartFour posted...

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Well I'd love to be proven wrong. I want to see the pokemon games becoming more mainstream.

what

Sorry I didn't express myself properly.

I want competitive pokemon to become mainstream.

Because right now it's not. I've gone to tournaments in Sao Paulo that could barely get 15 players, and that city has more people than New York.

Right now pokemon feels like a niche thing that is popular but only to a segment of gamers that really like nintendo. I wish it could be more like Overwatch.

You cant get more mainstream than pokemon lmao

Literally blues singers have included it in their lyrics, its hit peak already
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ZeldaTPLink posted...

LeonhartFour posted...

ZeldaTPLink posted...

Well I'd love to be proven wrong. I want to see the pokemon games becoming more mainstream.

what

Sorry I didn't express myself properly.

I want competitive pokemon to become mainstream.

Because right now it's not. I've gone to tournaments in Sao Paulo that could barely get 15 players, and that city has more people than New York.

Right now pokemon feels like a niche thing that is popular but only to a segment of gamers that really like nintendo. I wish it could be more like Overwatch.

That's because pogeymans is an rng trashfire on the level of hearthstone tbqh

It's unpopular because it's not good
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Obama told people to stop playing Pokemon last week. I think Pokemon will be OK
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anyway, I think we're far enough into this match now to definitively say this

this Monika thing needs to go down in history as one of the most hilarious failures in contest history. even the vote totals are barely any higher than the previous matches. if we're going to talk up L-Block and Draven and Undertale, we should probably mention Monika in that same list of things that scared the crap out of everyone and was completely nothing. I'm guessing that Monika has the second most picks for winner outside of Link? yeah.
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Or maybe I'm disconnected from you guys because I'm not in USA and Nintendo is like 100x bigger there apparently.

The last Nintendo console to be officially launched in Brazil was the 64.

Meh.

Like everybody here only buys playstations, and they do it to buy the last soccer game and nothing else.

Hbthebattle posted...

The way the Pokemon fanbase works is that a generation becomes beloved two gens after its release. Thus, right now, the general opinion of the fanbase on XY is shifting upwards significantly, and SM is in the hot seat. But by Gen 9, SM will be much more appreciated

Yes, I've noticed this myself. It's often very trendy for the fanbase in general to hate on the most recent generation and once the next generation comes out, the fanbase starts to view the previous generation more positively.
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Is it because each game is progressively worse which in hindsight makes the previous game look better?
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Monika is what you should expect from a legitimate rally with a fanbase that size. I never really got why people who didn't think there was blatant cheating in previous rallies (since I'm apparently in the minority on this) thought she'd get the juice necessary to topple Wario. Just not enough fanbase to work from
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Like, to give you an idea, in 2013 politicians made a law that made it harder for us to do online purchases with foreign currency, ehich made all online gane shops stop working.

Sony and Microsoft (and Steam/etc) made a fix in the following day enabling their shops to work in Brazil again.

Nintendo never did. Their shops just stopped working here. They just didn't bother,because the nintendo execs apparently use a world map that that only has USA and Japan on it.

For some weird reason there is a single bank here that can buy games from nintendo e-shops. My sister happens to own a card from that bank, so I borrowed it from her in order to buy the Ace Attorney games. Otherwise you'd have never gotten to read that AA ranking thread of mine.

/rant