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

(+) Yeah! (+)

I am still in absolute shock that this happened. I thought Vanille had a chance to win by the final 5, but I thought Locke was an absolute slam dunk of a champion if he got to the end (and I would've been more than okay with him winning as well...this is the best final 2 the Lefty Era has had thus far). First, I've gotta offer a handful of apologies.

Koala, I'm sorry for my complaints in the Discord. It was never anything personal, and if you were to push Tifa into a similar position (heck, I figured Vanille would eventually top out and Tifa would be what I'd have to fall back on), that's a push I would absolutely go for. Maybe not next year because I've gotta show Rikku some love after all this, but in the near future.

Mewtwo, I know you were annoyed at my attitude, particularly the round I tried to leave Vanille to the wolves for Rikku, only for this success to occur...I'm sorry. I genuinely did not think this was possible, especially considering Vanille had four Iron Mans at that point, including one on the very first round of soft boots. But, wow...here we are.

Meanwhile, there's a lot to say to a lot of people here in terms of thanks.

Roba - It took a while--until Eiko and Zidane died--but we finally got on the same page with like...four girls we wanted to push as hard as we could...and unfortunately, three of them got picked off before the top twenty. Still, we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and committed to pushing Vanille as hard as we possibly could, and this miracle happened as a result. Thank you for all your support this year.

Nanis - Similar deal to Roba; we've always been allies in these contests, and Garnet's always gonna hang around to the mid-late game at least as a result. I know how brutal some of the night rounds were for your sleep schedule, but you sticking it out and even managing to throw single saves down made all the difference this year.

Red - Even though our paths diverged at a certain point, because we just didn't have enough saves to spare to both watch each other's backs the whole time, I'm really glad we got Red and Vanille both to the final four, and you stuck around to push Vanille across the goal line. You've always been a great ally to have in these contests.

Nee - I'm really sorry that Faris and Galuf took the hits so early this year, but I deeply thank you for sticking with the contest and always being there to give Vanille support. The momentum she maintained because of your help is a big part of what made this run possible.

Eddv - I'm sorry that your faves got whittled down so harsh and so fast (much like with Nee, Faris getting soft-booted was a rough round), but I'm really thankfully you jumped onboard the Vanille train after Cecil's elimination, and helped get her over the finish line when it counted.

Karo - Much like with Roba, at a certain point, I think all of our priorities just aligned, and having someone who was solid and could be relied upon to help push Vanille round after round means everything in a contest like this.

Ashethan - Very similar story. I thought Rikku had a championship run in her, but when she fell short, you hopped onboard with Vanille, and we rode that trail all the way to the finals and a victory. Thank you for that.

Doc - I can't believe so long after the Gauntlet Crew seemingly fell apart, you came back and helped power the Vanille express to a victory five years in the making. Your arrival on the scene was absolutely CRITICAL to this victory, so thank you for everything, and you know I've got Rikku's back next year.

Kaelee/MI - Even though I'm not the hugest fan of Aerith, knowing that she's both of your favorite characters made her success over the past three years something I could at least be happy about in a small part. I'm glad for any and all finals votes you threw Vanille's way, and just for being my friends after all these years.

Kate - Five years ago, I pushed Year of XIII to get a great game a much-deserved champion. Our girl made the final seven, but an NR offer cut her short and left Fang in the catbird seat for victory. I know you weren't happy about that at the time, but hopefully it hasn't been too long to celebrate a much-deserved victory once and for all!

Luis - On a similar note, but kind of the opposite side of the same coin, FFXIV has somewhat split our allegiances from what they once were, but it was so great to have you on Vanille's side at the endgame this time around, finally completing the FFXIII ladies' trifecta.

Kappa/Bubu - Regardless of how long our respective alliances lasted, it's always a pleasure to have trades that you know you can rely upon round after round, and once Emet and Ghido went out, I thank you for jumping onboard with Vanille fulltime and helping make this possible.

VI - Even though we wound up on opposite sides of the fence for this final round, I can't deny that you were an extremely loyal and valuable ally throughout this contest as well. I'm glad that we got to maintain our trade right up until the final three.

Chris - You jumped onboard the Vanille train when Ghido went out and it would have been so easy to side with one of the other four big names from three titans of Final Fantasy popularity. Every vote counted just to get Vanille to the finale, so your support meant the world in achieving this result. And yes, I know I need to get back to playing FFXIV. I will eventually!

Socko/Xuxon - Not only did you two put your support behind Vanille in the finals, but looking back on her four Iron Man snipes, you guys are responsible for three round where Vanille otherwise would've been eliminated. At a time when I didn't think victory was possible, and had to weigh eliminating my favorite character against keeping something more popular in the game, you guys made that choice for me, and she's in the winner's circle now, because of both of you.

Martin - You might not exactly be happy about this, given your finals votes and how close Aerith came to another finals berth, but you were the other sniper that kept Vanille alive at a time when I was especially unsure as to whether to keep her, or keep pushing Zidane for stats. You made the choice for me, and here we are...so thank you.

Paul/Stifled - I don't know what happened to get the Bear Bros on Team Vanille, but I'm of course glad to see your names counted among her saves in the finale. It's a shame that Quina fell so soon into the top twenty, when they otherwise should've gotten the traditional FFIX LCS boost.

Suprak/FFD/Lopen/Andylt/Swordz - I know that I am very opinionated, and I can be very abrasive when our favorites don't necessarily align, as is the case with quite a few characters that you guys like (even in the course of this very contest). But as always, I do apologize for my attitude, and the fact that you still helped join the Vanille train and pushed her over the edge (that's 50 of her votes right there) means so much.

Fiop/Chaeix/Raiden/Turus - Thank you for your late-contest support, even if we weren't necessarily on the same page until those last few rounds. As close as that final three was, every vote counts just as much as every other.

Ulti/Ecks/Guff/BCT - I'm sorry about Aerith falling short at three (or whoever you may have supported before her that fell short going into the endgame), but I thank you all the same for sticking it out and sticking with the contest to go all-in on Vanille as best you could in the finals.

Tex/Snake/Ken - I know you didn't necessarily follow this contest religiously (or perhaps even at all), but showing up to the finals and laying down as many votes as you did was extremely appreciated and really helped secure this victory.

TomNook - Whatever your rationale behind your choices in the past week, more power to you. I appreciate your support and votes in the finals all the same.

Genny - I know your six finals votes were due to NRs, but you also could've easily gone the full 10-6 for Locke if you really wanted to, and thank you for playing the final how you did, for whatever reason you had behind your decision. I can't really downplay past successes, but this is the first time since the Raytan era (where admittedly most of my successes lay) where the win feels amazing beyond just being part of a "movement" (like with Fang/Lightning).

Everyone Else Who May Have Saved Vanille During This Contest, and I Did Not Otherwise Personally Thank - Everyone played a part this year, and every single vote mattered.

And finally, Lefty - We don't always see eye-to-eye, and this contest drives me fucking crazy sometimes, but this result wouldn't have happened if you hadn't run the contest in the first place. Hell, as Komm pointed out the other day, about half your finals now have FFXIII ladies as winners, so you must be doing something right as a host. Thank you for all your time and effort regardless, and hopefully I will be more chill and less annoying next year.

MartinFF7 posted...

Side character boot has "Martha" written all over it :)

Nah I'm not nominating Martha because I know that's a hard boot

She'll be the #1 FFXVI waifu in my heart though

I definitely remember Vanille hate being a thing in the early post-XIII days, she was often ranked low along with Hope & Snow as "annoying" characters

not that I ever understood it as someone that does like Vanille even though I despise the game

Inviso posted...

I do apologize for my attitude, and the fact that you still helped join the Vanille train and pushed her over the edge (that's 50 of her votes right there) means so much.

Not going to lie, I was a bit mad at your comments after Selphie went out but I decided to just save my favorite final fantasy character (left).

We all say things about characters we don't like, I've learned to let (most) of it slide. Happy to see her do well, even if I'd have loved Selphie to be in this spot.

Grimlyn posted...

50% of the last 6 contests now

50% of all female winners as well >_>

wait that stat I completely wasn't paying attention to

what the fuck

Vanille early on had Tifa Syndrome, a.k.a. "hated for keeping important info from party members" as well as people saying she had a bad Australian accent despite her VA literally being Australian

Grimlyn posted...

wait that stat I completely wasn't paying attention to

what the fuck

We have Lulu in II, Celes in III, and it wasn't until Rydia in XV that we got our third female winner.

Leonhart4 posted...

Vanille early on had Tifa Syndrome, a.k.a. "hated for keeping important info from party members" as well as people saying she had a bad Australian accent despite her VA literally being Australian

yeah maybe Tifas part of that gets retconned or explained better in the future remake projects

also I dunno Fang and Vanilles group seemed Australian influenced as a whole

Also Im alright with the Vanille in, shes one of the stronger female characters in the series (definitely top 5 at least) although it shows which way I skew when Locke is probably my fifth favorite character in the series and it was a no brainer

the secret thing it never really seemed to be a big deal with Fang who I think stays on the inoffensive end on of XIII's cast with Sazh

although she's not really friends with the party outside Vanille which I guess could be why people don't drag her for not being open

Inviso posted...

Roba - It took a while--until Eiko and Zidane died--but we finally got on the same page with like...four girls we wanted to push as hard as we could...and unfortunately, three of them got picked off before the top twenty. Still, we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and committed to pushing Vanille as hard as we possibly could, and this miracle happened as a result. Thank you for all your support this year.

It was a crazy and unexpected run! I honestly would've ranked Vanille one of the least likely to win out of the four girls I split my saves between (she's at least more likely than Quistis, but both Rikku and Dagger feel more naturally strong). I'm amazed and happy that Vanille somehow went all the way. It was good being on a team with you again!

My plan is still Wakka, Yuna, Rikku next year.

This was a good, fun, contest for me. It was nice to take it easy and not worry about doing more than one save until towards the end.

Maniac64 posted...

My plan is still Wakka, Yuna, Rikku next year.

YRW just doesn't have the same ring to it as YRP though

Mobilezoid posted...

It was a crazy and unexpected run! I honestly would've ranked Vanille one of the least likely to win out of the four girls I split my saves between (she's at least more likely than Quistis, but both Rikku and Dagger feel more naturally strong). I'm amazed and happy that Vanille somehow went all the way. It was good being on a team with you again!

Yeah, I figured Rikku, Garnet and Tifa all had a better chance.

Grimlyn posted...

the secret thing it never really seemed to be a big deal with Fang who I think stays on the inoffensive end on of XIII's cast with Sazh

although she's not really friends with the party outside Vanille which I guess could be why people don't drag her for not being open

Vanille caught flack for it instead of Fang because she was being buddy buddy with Sazh for a big chunk of the game and never told him

Fang doesn't meet Sazh until after he finds out

Mobilezoid posted...

YRW just doesn't have the same ring to it as YRP though

which is why the acronym should be WRY

When they WRY

I'm realizing that I don't remember like literally any involvement of Fang in the game at all

every other character I can have scenes come to mind, but for Fang I just completely blank out. I have like a general idea of her, her stand-off personality, clinging protectiveness of Vanille... but that's kinda it

okay well the ending scene but that feels like a cheating and it's shared with Vanille anyways

I've got a stronger memory of Cid Raines than I do Fang

You know Yunas last two partners got wins

Gonna have to watch out for Champion Wakka!

Grimlyn posted...

I'm realizing that I don't remember like literally any involvement of Fang in the game at all

every other character I can have scenes come to mind, but for Fang I just completely blank out. I have like a general idea of her, her stand-off personality, clinging protectiveness of Vanille... but that's kinda it

okay well the ending scene but that feels like a cheating and it's shared with Vanille anyways

also with Fang she doesnt show up until like Chapter 6 which is near the mid point of the game or so (maybe its 4 or 5)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/0/AAeYFbAAE33E.png

I just told my wife about the finals and she remembered mispronouncing Vanilles name all those years ago.

Oh yea is this the first time a canon couple have both had wins

So much for the gays trying to kill Montblanc, they were just trying to get Vanille a win to match with Fang!

Fang shows up a couple times early on, but she joins the party with Snow and Lightning in chapter 7 and reunites with Vanille in chapter 9 (the infamous SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS confrontation happening in chapter 8).

Just an absolutely stunning job at running this thing, lefty. No big issues, great start times and notices, and the rolling updates were clutch.

And a huge thank-you to the 8 or so others of ya that kept spitting facts and sharing data to create narratives and tell the story of the contest. It really made for a fun saving environment and provided lots of chuckles and a few inside jokes.

Vanille was towards the bottom of my ranking for the Top 10, but I dont hate her at all.

Well, part of my reasoning for supporting Locke was that I felt bad that he was the victim of Vivi's second win. But now that he couldn't win this, I don't feel bad anymore. It appears he's just not a very strong character in a finals and VI fans should go to Terra or Sabin (or even try for a Celes repeat).

LOL at the idea that Terra could win a finals

She couldn't win when the host was blatantly biased in her favor

Hey, at least she lost to a titan rather than a repeat champ and a character from XIII!

I was trying to do Celes!

speaking of start times lemme update this
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/4/AAeYFbAAE33S.jpg

also yes I see that XX has no finals logged... so I am logging its finals now to complete lefty-era finals... oof

I think people just underestimate XIII being super strong

Mewtwo59 posted...

VI fans should go to Terra or Sabin (or even try for a Celes repeat).

Maybe it's finally time for Gogo to join the fight

Nah, Adlai Stevenson is known for losing elections. He's going to peak at second.

Adlai Stevenson wouldn't want the spotlight of a finals, that's why he took upon the robes & shawls

Why did I vote for Vanille in the finals?

My thought was that with a Vanille victory, this would hopefully be the end of FF XIII finals runs for the foreseeable future. 3 of the last 6 contests I think someone said? Now that its top 3 characters have secured victories, hopefully we can just move on to some other game now.

I know the same could be said for Locke, who I also don't have any vested interest in. The difference there is that there is a strong pre-FF7 voting block here that isn't going anywhere, and even if Locke wins here, some other character from that group would just rise to the occasion. Vanille winning is the best chance to be done with a game as far as finals runs are concerned.

Congrats Vanille supporters. You put up a good fight! And thanks Lefty for the contest. It was lots of fun.

guffguy89 posted...

Why did I vote for Vanille in the finals?

My thought was that with a Vanille victory, this would hopefully be the end of FF XIII finals runs for the foreseeable future. 3 of the last 6 contests I think someone said? Now that its top 3 characters have secured victories, hopefully we can just move on to some other game now.

I know the same could be said for Locke, who I also don't have any vested interest in. The difference there is that there is a strong pre-FF7 voting block here that isn't going anywhere, and even if Locke wins here, some other character from that group would just rise to the occasion. Vanille winning is the best chance to be done with a game as far as finals runs are concerned.

FFXIII's best character hasn't even made it past 10th place yet!

Time for a Sazh run in XXVI!

Grimlyn posted...

also yes I see that XX has no finals logged... so I am logging its finals now to complete lefty-era finals... oof

update, during my logging I come across this

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/0/5/AAeYFbAAE33d.png

... yes.... help get XIII a win... aha... ha ha... ahahah

to be in 2018 again

Mewtwo59 posted...

Well, part of my reasoning for supporting Locke was that I felt bad that he was the victim of Vivi's second win. But now that he couldn't win this, I don't feel bad anymore. It appears he's just not a very strong character in a finals and VI fans should go to Terra or Sabin (or even try for a Celes repeat).

This is kinda silly. He lost by 39 saves. This exact same match could potentially have flipped for any number of reasons.

oh shit I posted to early

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/0/7/AAeYFbAAE33f.png

I'm screaming

But Locke has now lost as many finals as Aerith so surely he will get the same hatred and ire going forward right?

guffguy89 posted...

But Locke has now lost as many finals as Aerith so surely he will get the same hatred and ire going forward right?

VeryInsane posted...

This was definitely to create stakes for the inevitable Locke/Aerith match where the loser becomes the first character to lose 3 finals

the grudge match begins (also I lost power D:)

redrocket posted...

This is kinda silly. He lost by 39 saves. This exact same match could potentially have flipped for any number of reasons.

Even if Locke can win something, he's still years away from it if Aeris is anything to go by. He needs a cooldown.

we all just need to agree to make Locke v Aeris happen next year

although I'm pretty certain he would lose that

Don't worry, Locke probably isn't getting back anytime soon. This was his first top ten since the last time he was in the finals.

Bot who are the top 25 Vanille savers all time

Will ff13 be eliminated before top 20 next time???

(Like super weak ffix)

Unless you want to make the finals Delita vs Ashe Locke is probably next in line

(though Clive is close)