Save My Favorite Final Fantasy Characters XXVII: Final Results and Discussion

it is the grand return of LEFTY-ERA FINALS SAVE STATS!! 8 contests in the books now.

I've got a bunch of general finals stats numbers but I guess i'll save those for later, I know you all want to know your own personal stats so let me just drop those first. I'm including everyone who saved in this final, and everyone who was a consistent participant this year but sat out the finals. I was also planning to add in "ties" for final sitout but it's too much work... no, there is only one user officially in a tie situation now.

Two years ago we had Robazoid and swordz at top of the house at 6-0 in leftyera. Roba having a two-year losing streak (regrettably) and swordz sitting out this years still leaves him at 7-0, but going to give "top of the house" credit to the 8-contest folks:

GenesisSaga
illuminatusbubu
TheArkOfTurus
Xuxon

Congrats on getting things to go your way 7 out of 8 times... even if you technically only got one save in, still counts!

-----Participation in All 8 Finals-----

7-1
GenesisSaga
illuminatusbubu
TheArkOfTurus
Xuxon

6-2
Chaeix
Lopen
MZero
PlasmaKappa
Robazoid

5-3
ecksgem
Eddv
Inviso
Janus5k
Maniac64
TexWolf_1729
WhiteLens

4-4
captaincanadian
GuessMyUserName
Mewtwo59
StifledSilence
th3l3fty
TheKnightOfNee
VeryInsane

3-5
bwburke94
Nanis23

2-6
Arti
greengravy294
MartinFF7 (* record scratch* *freeze frame* Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation...)

-----Participation in 7 of 8 Finals-----

7-0
swordz9

6-1
mnk

4-3
Great_Paul
pjbasis
red13n

3-4
Bane_Of_Despair
BlackDra90n
FFDragon
Snake5555555555

2-5
PrinceKaro

-----Participation in 6 of 8 Finals-----

6-0
SockoressKnight

5-1
linkhatesganon
RaidenGarai
v_charon

4-2
andylt
Suprak_the_Stud

3-3
junk_funk
Yankees

2-4
guffguy89
kateee

1-5
Fiop
VengefulKaelee

0-6
Pokewars ()

-----Participation in 5 of 8 Finals-----

4-1
LeonhartFour
LuisSera

3-2
redrocket
Underleveled

2-3
BlueCrystalTear
SaveEstelle
Wicklebee
yellowwolley

1-4
KommunistKoala

-----Participation in 4 of 8 Finals-----

3-0-1
UltimaterializerX

3-1
Jesse_Custer

1-3
slykirby

-----Participation in 3 of 8 Finals-----

2-1
Dante
JonPen1416
WarThaNemesis2

1-2
_Keeby
5tarscream
Ifrit

-----Participation in 2 of 8 Finals-----

2-0
Sniff

1-1
AdmittedFelon
Wedge_Antilles

0-2
Kotetsu534

-----Participation in 1 Final (this one)-----

1-0
CaveDweller
psaltery
totamech

0-1
HBJdubs

You was a liar

ecksgem posted...

Anyways Rikku and Laguna are winning the next two contests right

I'd be good with that

Kotetsu534 posted...

I plan to push either Aerith or Yuna next year, but I'll be guided by who has more dedicated support because I found being the only person really pushing a character to be a bit of a lonely struggle! Ideally at least one other person being there most rounds and trading (once we get to 4+ saves anyway).

You have my sword (for Aerith)

lmao have i not participated in a single final

MartinFF7 posted...

Roba having a two-year losing streak (regrettably)

I used to be someone. Now I'm a nobody.

Thanks as always for putting together interesting stats, Martin.

Dante posted...

lmao have i not participated in a single final

sorry I missed flagging you as a "skipped this final but was a consistent participant in contest" user. I mean.... were you consistent enough...

I've edited you in now though!

MartinFF7 posted...

0-6
Pokewars ()

And...

MartinFF7 posted...

*record scratch* Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation...)

YEP!

this cuts so deep

mnk posted...

Woohoo! I know I've said this a bunch, but it's crazy how he went from probably dead at 20th if it hadn't been Layle instead to now being a champion. That stretch from 40-20 was very unnerving as his only main (Yankees going to Layle when Celes died really threw me for a loop, haha), but he got plenty of wonderful help along the way with people's h2 and h3 secondary saves. Honestly even that is a surprise given how awful Sabin's newSTATS era performances have been. I guess all it took was the heavy price of Kefka/Edgar being booted and Locke going out uncharacteristically early too, oops.

And yeah, then Layle died and Grimlyn and Yankees hopped on, and it non-lethally snowballed from there. I'd wanted to push him for awhile, but he just kept taking a back seat to Kefka or Locke or whatever other little project I had like Gau/Mog/Chocobo/BD. Kefka getting a win and Locke crashing out just gave me the motivation to finally give him his run.

Cheers to lefty and Arti and Grimlyn and Yankees and Raiden and Mewtwo and redrocket and MZero and Eddv and psaltery and War and even Socko and all other latecomers! Oh and to Suprak for being a great reliable trade partner for a super long time even if he's morally against Sabin and his contagious ways. :(

And special shout out to the concept of Future Rounders, you're the best (thanks Kappa, bubu, and Leon).

I'm surprised it actually happened, and glad that I didn't end up costing Sabin with that decision. I haven't played Crystal Chronicles, and felt like doing something nice for GMUN.

Boy yea Donkey Kong sure got my votes in Lightning vs Edward

MartinFF7 posted...

4-1
LeonhartFour

This is nice since I was 1-5 during mine and FFD's era (only Tidus > Kefka)

And 0-1 in the old era since I voted for Lightning against Marche

MartinFF7 posted...

2-4
guffguy89
kateee

wtf delet this

Yeah kateee has only ever supported the winner. DUH DOY!

Mobilezoid posted...

No one seems interested in Terra's Revenge so I'm with you again.

Id be in on Terras Revenge

kateee posted...

wtf delet this

"Truly I tell you, MartinFF7 answered, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown the four times of your Aerith and Garnet support.

I guess that finally makes up for only voting for 1 winner in 8 contests in the pre-lefty era (technically abstained from Lightning vs Marche but would have voted for her had I been familiar with her then).

UltimaterializerX posted...

Lefty, forgot to mention the timing and schedule was perfect this year. Please stick with it. Absolutely loved this being done by August.

lefty mentioned on the discord moving earlier, if anything. Said there would never be another SMFFFC round on July 4th again.

Robazoid posted...

Said there would never be another SMFFFC round on July 4th again.

Good. Jack Garland must win.

Rigged

Hmmmm....1-5 is pretty bad. That would mean I supported

Garnet < Sabin
Aerith < Barret
Vanille > Locke
Aerith < Ramza
Aerith < Kefka
Delita < Squall

I guess supporting Aerith every time hasn't helped.

Well 4 of 5 after having lost 5 straight is pretty good

Granted a lot is from Aerith but I think I would maybe have picked her over Sabin! (Closeish kinda like Kefka)

MartinFF7 posted...

2-6
Arti

Just Kefka and Sabin, if I recall correctly. Glad to add at least a second win during this time

I'd probably be 4-4 if I'd played remake in a timely fashion

Maybe 5-3. I do like Aerith more than Ramza but I think I may have voted him anyway.

Fun stats posting coming tomorrow (probably) - digging into the finals-voting stats to find user's nemeses. And perhaps their soulmates too...

Arti posted...

Just Kefka and Sabin, if I recall correctly.

confirmed

Fiop posted...

I guess supporting Aerith every time hasn't helped.

next time might be the time (if there is a next time)

Don't stop, believing... hold onto that feeling...

General finals-saving stat time.

Here's the breakdown on the number of unique savers in a given final, whether 1 or 10 (or more) saves.

XX: 68
XXI: 68
XXII: 77
XXIII: 92
XXIV: 91
XXV: 73
XXVI: 75
XXVII: 69

Keeping in mind that XXII was 2020 so you get the start of the pandemic-era bump, peaking in XXIII and - for the finals at least - still coming through in XXIV. Then dropping off a fair bit with XXV, and even maintained with the all-FF7 final. Now dropping a bit back to the pre-pandemic, much-maligned Donkey-Kong-heavy finals...

Another stat I tracked before, now updated, are "new user" finals appearances.

XXI finals had 20 new users over XX's finals making a save
XXII had 14 new users
XXIII had 16 new users
XXIV had 8 new users
XXV, only had 2 new finals savers (Ifrit and Keeby)
XXVI had 5 new finals savers (including contest regulars Kotetsu534, Sniff and AdmittedFelon)
and now with XXVII, we had 4 debut finals savers, most notably new contest regulars totamech and psaltery

so, still some new users popping up for the first time (in the leftyera at least), even after all this time! Not too shabby for a dying board.

So we are now up to 137 users who have registered at least 1 finals save in the leftyera. At the conclusion of the finals 2 years ago, we had 32 users who had saved in all 6 finals up to that point; no drop-offs last year, but with their non-participation this year swordz, Chris, Great_Paul and MyImmortal are no longer "perfect" in finals attendance so we're at 28 users now.

So of the 28 users remaining in the "perfect attendance" crew, they favoured the eventual champion other than a narrow Cid P lead, and they favoured Delita by a wide margin! Breakdowns as follows:

Cid P 15-13
Lightning 16-12
Delita 17-11
Kefka 19-9
Ramza 19-9
Vanille 15-13
Barret 20-8
Sabin 20-8

The 4 drop-offs were aligned on Fang, Lightning and Vanille so the new "perfect attendance" final stats get narrower in those cases, and flip a 17-15 Fang to 15-13 Cid. Also can't help but notice the new similarities between the first two Aerith years and the past two finals...

(other not-so-fun stat: of the 28 perfect attendees, only 2 had supported Aerith in each of her 3 finals: me and Nanis. so just me now )

The average finals "wins" for the perfect attendance crew is 4.75 which would work out to 59.375%, an improvement over two years ago 3.4375/6 = 57.29167%. Of course two 20-8 years will help!

We'll have user comparison stats coming tomorrow but the one set I wanted to flag, as a follow-up to two years ago: at the time we had 4 users who had voted identically in all 6 finals to-date, and while they all lined up behind Barret last year, burke dropped off the list with his Garnet support (his sacrifice is much appreciated...)

so congrats remain for

Mewtwo59
th3l3fty
VeryInsane

as being the truest finals soulmates with 8/8 alignment.

there may be more instances of perfection but that'll need to wait for my broader analysis!

which final did I not vote in?

oh probably Ramza/Aerith

like many users, your skip was the Lightning/Edward finals (you voted Aerith 10x vs Ramza thank you for that)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d92d90d1.png

sum of your finals saving

oh also caught this

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5a41ab87.png

....these trips down memory lane are nice, sometimes

Pj my man, we might not see eye to eye on Kingdom Hearts content but real recognizes real on skipping Lightning/Edward

You've activated my trap card

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4faf6369.png

Edit: oh wait i think he was talking about skipping Day 98 there, carry on...

Blond Boi Summahhhh

From the beginning I thought Sabin had the best shot at going all the way. Prompto's run was magical but he obviously didn't have the juice to actually win, Tidus is a former champ, Snow didn't have a snowball's chance in hell, etc. Thank you and congratulations to the Sickos that were there for the whole ride while I had my fun with the Prompto Patrol. Sabin is one of my favorite characters in the series and the first one that really feels like a win since Tidus 11 years ago. He's neck and neck with Locke for my favorite VI character, so this feels really good after Locke broke my heart twice. It's also nice that it coincided with the whole Blond Boi Summer thing, which I can now say, without a shadow of a doubt, was a resounding success!

Also, thank you to the Prompto Patrol for an unforgettable run, JC and Leon for their fanastic fanficition works, and everyone else who made this contest fun in one way or another. It was definitely a memorable one!

Mewtwo59
th3l3fty
VeryInsane

Out of curiosity, have these three ever supported one of the female finalists? I know lefty brought up a couple times that female characters never do well in his era (outside of XIII) but I didn't realize it was HIS FAULT!!!

their chauvinism shows NO BOUNDS as they indeed did not support any of the 7 female finalists in the leftyera. Sabin Barret Locke Ramza Kefka Delita Edward Cid P. For shame!

hey I voted for Ashe and Rydia

pick better ladies (or worse guys as opponents)

I demand a list of female characters Mewtwo, lefty, and VI would support in a final so we can stop being sexist and get a lady winner again.

I imagine Celes might be one of them

Cloud > Rydia
Lightning > Steiner
Fang > Cid P
Lightning > Edward
Kefka > Aerith
Ramza > Aerith
Locke > Vanille
Aerith > Barret
Sabin > Garnet

before this year I had an even split of supporting 4 males and 4 females, truly I am the beacon of equality

Addendum to my previous statposting: I overstated the unique finals savers for the past two contests by 1 (formula error), so they should say 74 and 68 instead. Damn one hour edit limit...

th3l3fty posted...

hey I voted for Ashe and Rydia

pick better ladies (or worse guys as opponents)

I was going to critique you for voting for a character from a game you haven't played, and then I realized you hadn't played the other finalist's game either...

maybe instead of "pick better x" you should "play more games"?

Squall > Delita
Aerith > Kefka
Ramza > Aerith
Vanille > Locke
Barret > Aerith
Garnet > Sabin

Perfectly balanced, as all finals support should be.

Apparently next year is my turn to support a male finalist. Can I interest anyone in a Galuf, Cloud, Clive, or Delita run? Cid T and Gilgamesh would also be acceptable.

MartinFF7 posted...

their chauvinism shows NO BOUNDS as they indeed did not support any of the 7 female finalists in the leftyera. Sabin Barret Locke Ramza Kefka Delita Edward Cid P. For shame!

I've been told that Delita is a girl because her name ends in an a. So that counts.

The remaster hasnt even come out and theres already a good chunk of people on the Delita train

this bodes well

will it hold next year? Find out next time on smfff-z

Mewtwo59 posted...

I've been told that Delita is a girl because her name ends in an a. So that counts.

don't even need to mention Dissidia Ramza...

yes, poor dissidia ramza

I did main Ashe and Agrias for deep runs, and I think you could have maybe talked me into saving Aerith, Vanille (pre win) or Faris over Sabin.

although in general FF is just very much a guys series. A lot of the women just arent that interesting imo.

Think theres a lot of female characters I would have picked over Sabin from other series though.

It's okay, once Yuna or Rikku finally makes it to the finals, we'll all do the right thing.

MartinFF7 posted...

1-0
CaveDweller
psaltery
totamech

I would hereby like to announce my retirement from SMFFFC

I think one of those years I deliberately helped the losing side shore up their numbers lol

mnk posted...

It's okay, once Yuna or Rikku finally makes it to the finals, we'll all do the right thing.

I definitely will!