Board 8 > Save My Favorite Final Fantasy Characters XXIII: Final Results and Discussion

(+) Yeah! (+)

You join a gacha game/topic or hang out in the contest stats topic I guess? Theres never much going on other than Save Mys >_>

You've gotta be the madness you wish to see in the world

PikachuTwoKing posted...

Ill be joining for the next one!

Woo new saver already!


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Good result

TOP 15 PREFERENCE RANKING STATS!
(n=46)

Best finals outcome: tied between MartinFF7, RaidenGarai and yellowwolley (1 vs. 2)
Worst finals outcome: Eddv (7 vs. 13)
Widest variance: Denzokuken (1 vs. 15)
Narrowest variance: In addition to the three 1 vs. 2, also ecksgem (2 vs. 3), pjbasis and Arti (3 vs. 4), BlackDra90n and Shonen_Bat (4 vs. 5), MZero (5 vs. 6), Bane of Despair (6 vs. 7) and FBike and Leanansidhe (7 vs. 8)

The best finals outcome last year was 1 vs. 4 and two years ago was 1 vs. 6, so getting better every year... can't get better than this, though.

Worst was 13 vs. 15 last year and 12 vs. 15 two years ago, so considering the "worst" still had a character in the top half of rankings is pretty incredible.

Lopen "narrow"ly missed out on the 3rd straight year of narrowest variance (Kefka vs. Agrias would've done it!)

The average finals preference was 5.21. Just really cannot get any better; totally raising the 3 year average all by itself (last year 8.00, two years ago 8.42), the three year-average now stands at 7.21 or above-average.

.... I just had a flashback to how Cid P vs Fang was 6 vs 14 for me but luckily that predates official stats ranking/tracking.

Martin - 1.5
RaidenGarai - 1.5
yellowwolley - 1.5
StifledSilence - 2
TotallyNotMI - 2
ecksgem - 2.5
tennisboy213 - 2.5
Xuxon - 2.5
linkhatesganon - 3
FFDragon - 3
pjbasis - 3.5
Arti - 3.5
Nanis - 3.5
Suprak - 3.5
GMUN - 4
kateee - 4
illuminatusbubu - 4.5
Shonen_Bat - 4.5
BlackDra90n - 4.5
mnkboy - 5
SaveEstelle - 5
Maniac64 - 5
MWC - 5
captaincanadian - 5
VeryInsane - 5
Snake5555555555 - 5.5
Robazoid - 5.5
MZero - 5.5
VengefulKaelee - 5.5
KommunistKoala - 5.5
BetrayedTangy - 6
TheArkOfTurus - 6
guffguy89 - 6.5
Bane - 6.5
swordz - 7
Luis_Sera89 - 7
FBike - 7.5
Leanansidhe - 7.5
Mewtwo - 7.5
Inviso - 8
Denzokuken - 8
Lopen - 9
andy - 9
Janus - 9.5
TheKnightOfNee - 9.5
Eddv - 10

So in addition to 3 perfects, we have five more users who matched or exceeded the top preference from last year, and an additional six compared to XXI. Very nice.

Ok next up, I have a 2-year analysis, and uh... I got 39 users who participated both last year and this year so it's going to be a large enough image that I'll split it into two so it doesn't get compressed... as with last year, the light blue is the "best" for that category and the vomit green is the "worst", rows are sorted by the 2-year total.




FFDragon looking like our overall two-year winner, following up a 1 vs. 4 last year with a 1 vs. 5 this year.

Janus with the biggest YOY drop but tough to follow that Squall win! Conversely, Nanis rebounding from the "worst" final last year to have the biggest YOY change

VengefulKaelee achieves a "preferred" final and, combined with Denzokuken's disdain for Kefka, lets her jussst eke out of the 2-year cumulative last place. Woo! And Denzo, well... better luck next year!

Lots of people who were double-digit last year seeing nice jumps, you love to see it...

I'll have a 3-year analysis for people who participated in each of the past three contests but will save that for the next update.

Excellent final. Bit disappointed Aeris couldnt pull ut off but Kefka is a great villain so still a great winner.

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I had no idea this was so close! I thought Kefka would win easily and it looked initially like that's exactly what he was doing. Good job Aeris. I'd say her recent success is down to the accurate portrayal in FFVII remake rather than the silly saintly Aeris we got in the Compilation. As for Kefka, he'd been threatening to win for a while so congrats to his supporters. If only Terra could get some of his strength. Wah.

What do those numbers mean for variance?

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Difference in your ranking between the two finalists. "Narrow variance" is something I noted the first time because it was one user (Lopen) but more people have their finalists next to each other in their rankings each of the past two years...

Since you had Kefka 4th and Aerith 5th that's the "narrow variance" (no space in between the two characters in your rankings). Meanwhile Denzokuken had the maximum space possible.

Got it, interesting.

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Thanks for the stats Martin. Maybe I'm a contrarian. ...It doesn't quite have the same ring as 'Maybe I'm a Lion' though.

a single digit preference its a miracle

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I think my Kefka rank now is higher than it was then

also my squall ranking when I did last years, I think they win and then I think why they win

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Where was I, going into the top ten?

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MartinFF7 posted...

FFDragon looking like our overall two-year winner, following up a 1 vs. 4 last year with a 1 vs. 5 this year.

Proof positive that shitposting is good for you.

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Inviso: your intuition is correct, at the top 10 your overall average was tied for the lead with Maniac64 at 6.6. Sephiroth dropping in 10th helped Maniac out just a little more (8th ranked for him vs. 7th for you) so he nudged into the lead there. Lead was exchanged again to a different user the following day and you never reclaimed it.

But indeed, the next stats dump will include day-by-day leader tracking & maybe the tracking breakdown of our three users with "most preferred" finals (though that's probably less interesting but makes for a nice line graph...)

FFDragon posted...

Proof positive that shitposting is good for you.

Don't worry, you'll still be gotten on the 3-year analysis (4 vs. 15, that's what you get for not believing in JUSTICE)

My two weak links both making top five hurt me overall.

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Looks like Im pretty consistent

And considering the Lightning win was a 1 vs 15 for you, that's a 8 to 7.5 to 7, a 0.5 increase each of the past two years... consistent indeed!

I didn't think I'd be that low on the rankings, I guess only a select few of us dislike Kefka. He was 14/15 for me but would also be 99/100 on the grand scale of this year's contestants, so... yeah. Still I like Aeris and it was an eventful final so that's something.

Denzokuken posted...

I had no idea this was so close! I thought Kefka would win easily and it looked initially like that's exactly what he was doing. Good job Aeris. I'd say her recent success is down to the accurate portrayal in FFVII remake rather than the silly saintly Aeris we got in the Compilation. As for Kefka, he'd been threatening to win for a while so congrats to his supporters. If only Terra could get some of his strength. Wah.

One of your Aeris saves was early! GMUN tried to tell you and I wanted to ping you but lefty told me not to, it was very frustrating!! But it didn't come down to a single vote at least.

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MartinFF7 posted...

that's what you get for not believing in JUSTICE

That was a war crime, not justice

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Fun fact: of the six most recent contests, only one has been won by a character in their first final: Fang. Every other has been a character with a finals loss getting their revenge against a finals newbie. Vivi, Cloud, Lightning, Squall, now Kefka. People must really love the 'It's their Turn' narrative. Nobody has defeated a prior finalist since Steiner!

So next year, don't bet against someone with something to prove in a final >_>

Here's the top 6 characters in stats with a 0% record in finals (they are well ahead of the rest): Yuffie, Terra, Locke, Tifa, Laguna, Aerith. Will one be the next champion?

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Its Vivis turn

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I do not understand any of these statistics, other than the top characters

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ok all I'm hearing is



...just need to switch the second "I" to a "V", that's all!

FFDragon posted...

That was a war crime, not justice

Literally lol'ed

Good times, good times...

PikachuTwoKing posted...

I do not understand any of these statistics, other than the top characters

At the top 15, people were asked to rank the remaining characters based on who they would most prefer winning vs. least prefer winning. Those numbers above are the average; so for example, I had Kefka #1 and Aerith #2 so my average is 1.5. Someone who had say, Kefka #4 and Aerith #7, would have an average final rank of 5.5.

In the picture, YOY change is the difference between "averages" from this year and the same "Top 15 ranking" done last year, and sum is summing your two averages into a single number.

andylt posted...

I didn't think I'd be that low on the rankings, I guess only a select few of us dislike Kefka. He was 14/15 for me but would also be 99/100 on the grand scale of this year's contestants, so... yeah. Still I like Aeris and it was an eventful final so that's something.

One of your Aeris saves was early! GMUN tried to tell you and I wanted to ping you but lefty told me not to, it was very frustrating!! But it didn't come down to a single vote at least.

Thank you (and GMUN), but at least it did not affect the result. Unfortunately I don't read through topics unless I need to, so I wouldn't have seen any posted warnings I'm afraid.

The Mana Sword posted...

Its Vivis turn

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would easily be the best result in the last 5 years so i'm down

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Alright, Vivi it is. Someone new to finals can be the runner up to continue tradition.

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What if we hall of fame all the winners

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Repeat winners are the best tho

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Man I just looked up goat on the FF wiki and the first result thats an actual character is Ramza

even the wiki is mocking me

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Vivi > Ramza XXIV final confirmed, thanks VI.

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Let's have a contest that's just all the third place finishers, with anyone who's made the finals removed

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Can we please not joke about Vivi winning again. Jokes about bad things happening are only funny if they're farfetched, not if there's a serious danger of the bad thing happening every year!
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Dantezoid posted...

Let's have a contest that's just all the third place finishers, with anyone who's made the finals removed

So Rikku, Dagger, Sephiroth, Minwu, Doomtrain, Agrias, Selphie, Freya, Ultros? That might not go the way you are hoping!

PikachuTwoKing posted...

I do not understand any of these statistics, other than the top characters

We all (well, most of us) took the top 15 finishers in this contest and ranked them according to our preference a couple weeks ago, Martin then extrapolated data from that to see which users had things go their way etc.

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I'm happy with essentially any of those characters winning!

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That cast of characters, and our current crop of savers.... Could we get Dagger/Rikku finals? I wonder if Ultros could sneak in...

And for next year, Vivi repeat is always a distinct possibility for sure.

Alrighty, dropping the 3-year preference-ranking results, we had 25 people in the 2-year analysis last year and Drakeryn and Steiner didn't participate this go-around so we've got 23 now. Thanks again to everyone who participated to contribute to these statistics!

Rather than doing a "cumulative" score like I was doing with the 2-year rankings, going with a 3 year average (to 2 decimal places) here. You'll recall that "8" is the precise midpoint average so anyone with a number lower than 8 is above-average. I've thrown in some thick borderlines to emphasize the separation points.

(also note the "worst" XXII and XXI aren't included in the colour-coding since they weren't 3 year participants. XXII: Nanis, 14 / XXI: Steiner, 13.5)



Of the 23 three-year participants, 17 have an above-average final over the past 3 contests, 1 (StifledSilence) was dead-on, and 5 were below-average.

FFDragon, even with the "war crime" XXI ending, it wasn't enough to drag him lower than a tie for 2nd place with the original 2-year (XXI-XXII) champ, Lea.

Maniac has the distinction of the highest 3-year average without being the "best" in either of the three years.

Despite her finals turnaround this year, Kaelee's horrific previous two (where all four finalists had double-digit preference ranking) can't be overcome enough to catch Koala and his own single-digit preference miracle this go-around. But at least it's not a double-digit average!

As previously discussed, swordz wins the "consistency" award. Though I'll take the partial credit as the only user having the same average ranking in any 2 of the prior 3 years, for my "6" in the previous two contests (4 vs 8 last year, 1 vs. 11 in XXI), which funny coincidence, Aerith/Agrias would've been a "6" for me again this time. Lots of people close with some 0.5 differences but nobody with the same average ranking in any two years.

Ark has also increased his average by 1.5 each of the previous two contests, which means he's trending for a 1 vs. 2 final in three years, contest XXVI...

And for me, the numbers don't lie: it's been a pretty great three-year stretch. Other than Tifa falling short last year, really can't complain! Everything else I wanted to happen, happened. Good times, good times...

One question, when exactly does the next one start?

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how the hell was XXI a 9.5 for me

I must have been drunk when I made those rankings. Or I gave Edward too much credit without thinking what'd happen if he would actually make the finals...

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Yeah, 8 vs 11

Rydia
Red Mage
Gilgamesh
Auron
Barret
Kefka
Red XIII
Lightning
Quina
Squall
Edward
Seymour
Garnet
Aerith
Gaffgarion

You're excused for the 14th place there, it was the "before times" for her...

yikes, I was such a naive and foolish young lad back then

must have been some sort of stockholm syndrome to rank lightning higher than 15th

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MartinFF7 posted...

Maniac has the distinction of the highest 3-year average without being the "best" in either of the three years.

Consistently ok results ftw

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PikachuTwoKing posted...

One question, when exactly does the next one start?

probably about 8 months from now

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Oh come on, I was kinda hoping it would start soon, well it seems to be pretty long, so I guess you guys DO need a break between each one

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MartinFF7 posted...

the numbers don't lie

eh, they kinda did for me. Kefka and Squall are the two characters i'm almost always pushing in the top 10. and Lightning is like... maybe top 20, probably top 25 at least. and yet i'm ranked really low just because i disliked two of the finalists. not even all 3! and honestly when we're measuring the outcome, if someone i dislike gets second it's really not that big of a deal to me so long as someone i like wins (though i do appreciate someone i really like making the final even if they don't win).

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PikachuTwoKing posted...

One question, when exactly does the next one start?

Tomorrow

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Ideally, it'll never start

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SMFFFC running year round sounds a bit terrifying.

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Usually there was a Disney save my but that seems to be shelved indefinitely.

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