Board 8 > Save My Favorite Final Fantasy Characters XXV: Day 60 [smfffc]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Good guy BCT, much appreciated!

BALTHIER

CVIII - 1/75 [def. Zidane, 265-254]
CIX - 37/75
CX - 29/75
CXI - 31/75
CXII - 39/75
CXIII - 20/75
CXIV - 39/102
CXV - 17/100
CXVI - 81/100
CXVII - 65/100
CXVIII - 33/100
CXIX - 58/100
CXX - 54/100
CXXI - 88/100 (Booted)
CXXIII - 60/100
CXXIV - 85/100
CXXV - 41/100

overall STATS: 52.32% / up 0.48% - 45th/135 (no change)
newSTATS: 44.61% / up 1.54% - 68th/114 (up 4)
leftySTATS: 35.40% / up 6.15% - T-60th/72 (up 8)

Yikes, those leftystats were just abysmal.

v_charon posted...

Yikes, those leftystats were just abysmal.

At least he improved, but the 88th and 85th really don't reflect well on him.

Balthier seems to be the kind of character who went from beloved to "whatever" as his game aged. He won in his debut when everyone was on an XII high and now... he has a couple fans?

I feel like Balthier still retains the mantle of the game's most generally popular character, it's just that he doesn't have anyone that has him as their #1 favorite so he tends to suffer a bit because of that. Stats probably suggest Ashe is the most popular by numbers, but I still think in a general poll head to head people would pick Balthier.

pjbasis posted...

where's the guy who is guff

Saveless, for the record. Despite my best efforts to convince them otherwise both v_charon and guffguy89 have chosen to continue to ride the Pretty Boy Pony over the Hot Guy Helicopter, meaning Seymour will likely score another top 20 while the best poor, smoking hot Basch can hope for is like... 35th unless someone changes their mind and/or he picks up more secondary or casual support. Neither of which is likely. I mean with Balthier gone Basch moves up to my third priority, but I don't know what that'll amount to with Vincent struggling to even make it out of the three save rounds here. It probably won't amount to much!

Balthier's main problem is that he won immediately, so he had nowhere to go but down from there. Fan favorite characters who haven't won are more likely to keep getting pushed.

The secondary problem is that FFXII doesn't have enough hardcore fans to keep him (or any of them, really) afloat consistently.

So what you're saying is XII needs someone to look out for its cast in general.....

v_charon posted...

I feel like Balthier still retains the mantle of the game's most generally popular character, it's just that he doesn't have anyone that has him as their #1 favorite so he tends to suffer a bit because of that. Stats probably suggest Ashe is the most popular by numbers, but I still think in a general poll head to head people would pick Balthier.

I seem to recall Ashe's STATS being pretty bad for a finalist because she doesn't have very many good showings besides that one, but maybe that's changed over the last few years. I'd guess Balthier is still #1 for FFXII for overall STATS.

Maybe I should remake my old STATS spreadsheet so I can keep up with it myself without having to wait for them to be posted

The lack of contests is really starving my inner nerd

Balthier hasn't aged well for me. I just feel like I've seen so many really good scoundrel characters over the years that he feels lacking.

Ashe and Basch are character archetypes who have less competition and as such look better comparatively even if I did initially prefer Balthier.

It's basically a pretty meh version of a character archetype I really like vs decent versions of character archetypes I'm not as fond of. The older I get, the more stories I experience, Balthier just seems less and less special.

I don't even think of Balthier as a scoundrel character. He's a guy posing as a scoundrel to distance himself from his true identity.

https://streamable.com/mj2uoi

I forgot how much effort laylevids can take

*edit* tux vincent's short hair head just makes me think AoT Mikasa but like fuck I was gonna try to crop out regular vincent's head pic

I don't think his backstory giving him an unconventional reason for being scoundrely makes him not one tbh

I literally loled

Also I had to rewind to catch the #hotguysummer scroll (too focused on Belle) and lol'd again

truly some of your finest work!!

Lopen posted...

I don't think his backstory giving him an unconventional reason for being scoundrely makes him not one tbh

Eh, it's not just that. I think he plays at being an air pirate, but he doesn't do any particularly scummy things unless he's just playing into people's expectations, and even then, he doesnt wind up doing what they expect (Ashe's ring being the primary example).

crap i meant to label Artemicion as Genny oh well y'all get it

No regrets I bought the yetee shirt FFD linked

Also my first yetee shirt I entered a rabbit hole that I am a little nervous of

LiquidOshawott posted...

Also my first yetee shirt I entered a rabbit hole that I am a little nervous of

...yeah...

There are a lot of bangers.

man SMFFFCIV's list of newcomers is really something

You've got Ramza, Delita, and Wiegraf, who all make sense

then it's Alma, Meliadoul, Lenne, Shuyin, Garik Ronso, Leblanc, and Buddy

I had totally forgotten Buddy was an FF character who actually existed until I looked through these results

he's from FFX-2 in case you too have forgotten

Brother should've been the character to get in, not Buddy!

LiquidOshawott posted...

No regrets I bought the yetee shirt FFD linked

Me too

I showed discipline and got no other shirts but there were a few cool ones

Robazoid posted...

Brother should've been the character to get in, not Buddy!

He got in a year before Paine as well

Robazoid posted...

Brother should've been the character to get in, not Buddy!

Or! Now hear me out for a second... we could have had neither of them, and! Now get this: we continue to have neither of them in the future.

I mean we had year of dads and moms, we gotta get to year of brothers some time

or the year of buddies

Year of Brothers, I like it! Good excuse to finally get Brother in. Let's see...

FFI I don't recall any brothers
FFII has Firion but Maria is an adopted sister so it's iffy
Never played FFIII
FFIV has Palom
Never played FFV
FFVI has Sabin and Edgar but they're usually in already
Never played FFVII
FFVIII has no brothers that I can recall unless being raised in the same orphanage makes people siblings
FFIX has Zorn and Thorn, I think they technically count as brothers
FFX has the brother, Brother
Never played FFXI
Never played FFXII
FFXIII doesn't have any brothers I can think of
Never played FFXIV
Never played FFXV
Never played FFXVI
World of Final Fantasy also has Lann.

Man, there aren't very many brothers in Final Fantasy, at least not off the top of my head.

VIII has the literal Brothers.

Roba literally forgot the big twists for Cecil and Golbez and Kuja/Zidane

also you can have Chappu/Wakka and Oaka/Wantz

and Vaan and Reks and *XII* Gabranth/Basch

Robazoid posted...

Never played FFVII

https://i.imgur.com/jzM2Kp2.gif

could we nominate the Brothers as one entry since they're a single summon in FFVIII

It is 2030. FF7 has made the finals 9 years in a row, coming up short every time. Roba still has not played FF7. Martin begs Roba to play it and he will main whoever he likes. Roba plays through the series and decides his favorite character is Cissnei.

Martin:

Nah, Roba's favorite character will definitely be Yuffie

Maybe Elena

Robazoid posted...

Never played FFXV

They're bros does that count

Robazoid posted...

Never played FFXVI

Clive and Joshua get my vote for best brothers

Gladio is a biological brother if we're not using the proverbial brotherhood of the main four

LiquidOshawott posted...

Roba literally forgot the big twists for Cecil and Golbez and Kuja/Zidane

also you can have Chappu/Wakka and Oaka/Wantz

and Vaan and Reks and *XII* Gabranth/Basch

Larsa and Vayne, but one of them stinks and I'd rather not drag the mangled corpse of the good brother to another humiliating soft boot, THANKS.

Robazoid posted...

FFII has Firion but Maria is an adopted sister so it's iffy

Adopted siblings are still siblings.

Leonhart4 posted...

Nah, Roba's favorite character will definitely be Yuffie

Maybe Elena, outside chance of Cait Sith

this works I think Martin doesnt like Yuffie much either

Roba is a man of culture, so he will play remake instead of the vastly inferior original and his favorite will be either Barret or Jessie.

Sorry Roba I don't make the rules.

Maniac64 posted...

Adopted siblings are still siblings.

what are you doing step-character

Suprak_the_Stud posted...

Roba is a man of culture, so he will play remake instead of the vastly inferior original and his favorite will be either Barret or Jessie.

Sorry Roba I don't make the rules.

those are good characters so nope

it'll still be Yuffie even with Remake

maybe the Ghosts

LeonhartFour posted...

maybe the Ghosts

allow ?????? you coward

Robazoid posted...

Never played FFIII

In the original/pixel remaster, the main cast are all adopted siblings! So let's get Onion Knight 1-4 in.

I thought we'd already established next year was Year of Pets anyway. Let's just put Year of Brothers/Siblings on the shelf for now. Forever. To collect dust as it should. We can get Clive and Joshua in, but I'm afraid we won't have room for this tras- I mean wonderful cast some of you have been mentioning. I mean y'all are seriously scraping the bottom of the character barrel if we're talking about including Palom and Porom. Let them stay in the raytan era where they can be happy with their... *checks notes* top 5 finishes WTF?

I mean we brought Rosa back after a decade, why not the twins

Because they're the twins.

they aren't any worse than Rosa (and have better contest history to boot)

porom looks kinda nice in the after years

Year of Pilgrimage is still my plan for next year. Which is really just Yuna Redemption. Or I just go back to pushing Barret now that he has more strength and go for last 7 standing.

Mainly cause I don't feel attached to any FF pets.