Board 8 > Save My Favorite Final Fantasy Characters XXV: Day 98 (RULE CHANGE) [smfffc]

(+) Yeah! (+)

LeonhartFour posted...

SMFFFCCI

we'll need to go back to bi-annual if we want to ever get there

Xuxon posted...

we'll need to go back to bi-annual if we want to ever get there

It...used to be bi-annual...?
Wow that sounds like torture

I do remember that there used to be a bot SMFFFC contest(s?) and never understood why people bothered with it
It was the most soulless thing ever

Vanille 8

bi-annual but with half the entrants

My pitch for Andrea is simple (warning dont look if you want to save the best part of remake to your own benefit)

edit: oh what the hell it goes through the spoiler tag. oh well check this posts history

Wait, I meant semi-annual. Dammit. I hate when other people do that and I did it myself. <_<

Nanis23 posted...

It...used to be bi-annual...?
Wow that sounds like torture

I do remember that there used to be a bot SMFFFC contest(s?) and never understood why people bothered with it
It was the most soulless thing ever

Are you implying that Lefty has soul?

Ashethan posted...

I kind of want to do a Rate the Final Fantasy Character, but I'm not sure if anyone would be interested or if it's been done before.

I'd be down for it, though my favs are likely too divisive to do well there!

Also I notice Martin is saving Locke, despite Vanille being on his pyramid at one point. Is this merely to remove an obstacle from Aeris' path next year, or does he no longer like Vanille!

I don't remember Vanille being on his pyramid? Only Cindy and for some reason Quistis. Then again that pyramid went through like eighteen revisions so it's possible I just missed that version.

This was on day 75:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/5/5/AAC56kAAEy2X.jpg

Though I guess the arrow implies she got bumped off the bottom tier.

Really appreciate being put on blast, andy.

Martin is just defeated and has given up on saving women ever again, much like Locke

Martin is just charging up for the year of the Genki girl next year

Krile
Relm
Yuffie
Selphie
Eiko
Rikku
Penelo
Vanille again
Iris
XVI Mid

Penelo has to be the blandest character that could still qualify for "Genki" in that entire list. She's closer to a responsible elder sister than an energetic baby sister.

andylt posted...

I'd be down for it, though my favs are likely too divisive to do well there!

Also I notice Martin is saving Locke, despite Vanille being on his pyramid at one point. Is this merely to remove an obstacle from Aeris' path next year, or does he no longer like Vanille!

I mean, he's not obligated to save a character he said he likes more... you know, that sounds familiar!

MartinFF7 posted...

Really appreciate being put on blast, andy.

Sorry I wasn't meaning it as a criticism, more an idle curiosity. I saw you'd broken the other way and was disappointed as I thought you'd be team cute girl. Obviously you're free to save whoever you want.

MartinFF7 posted...

Really appreciate being put on blast, andy.

I mean you handed him the grenade.

GenesisSaga posted...

Penelo has to be the blandest character that could still qualify for "Genki" in that entire list. She's closer to a responsible elder sister than an energetic baby sister.

she shows enough for a game that doesnt really focus on anyone other than like, two or three characters

who would you replace her with?

Penelo is the closest thing XII has to one.

Maybe Vaan.

LiquidOshawott posted...

who would you replace her with?

No one. Just make the list one shorter.

I guess the VIII crew can do a good job next year and get Rinoa in too

LiquidOshawott posted...

Martin is just charging up for the year of the Genki girl next year

Krile
Relm
Yuffie
Selphie
Eiko
Rikku
Penelo
Vanille again
Iris
XVI Mid

You're leaving out the part from the Discord where you said these are all the same character, so anyone saving Vanille in the finals is actually saving Eiko.

I didnt say same character! Just exhibit similar personalities

Wait, I figured it out. Locke is the one true friend of the ten Narshe moogles, so that's why he's earned Martin's votes

Vanille's friend's sister went on an adventure with a moogle, does that count for nothing?!?

A win for Locke is a win for the ten Narshe Moogles, so yes, it counts for nothing

Teaming up with 11 moogles > a friend's sister going on an adventure with 1 moogle.

What if that problem with Gamefaqs server being slow comes back just as when lefty makes a save

How the fuck does he even make those saves so perfect and never miss once

He used to use a script until it caused him to lawyer out Cecil

years of dedication to my craft

I Feel like leftybot failed literally day 1 of use

yeah I set up two scripts to click in specific locations on the screen

the first ever run lagged and the second didn't at all

andylt posted...

Also I notice Martin is saving Locke, despite Vanille being on his pyramid at one point. Is this merely to remove an obstacle from Aeris' path next year, or does he no longer like Vanille!

Didn't want to post this while the final was live for obvious reasons and ideally the results topic will have gone up by the time I post this, also don't want to post this in the results topic, should try to keep things more upbeat and celebratory in there.

This callout was totally justified, I mean I remember tracking who was saving who the past two years when I was obviously invested in the result, and I know this would have come out of left field for anyone besides yourself who remembered the "priority pyramid" so it was fair to raise this.

Here's my answer and it's not my proudest moment but whatever, it is what it is: seeing that Vanille was going to win broke me in a way no contest I've participated in ever has before. The writing was on the wall for a while that Aerith didn't have the juice to make the finals this year and I had made my peace with that, no issues with her being eliminated Day 98 because I'd expected it for days. But counting up the saves last night and seeing that Vanille was going to win, a character I like but who has had no run of consequence in over four contests coming out of nowhere to win it all vs. Locke who I really thought had it in the bag, based on past contest experience. If Vanille could win this matchup then maybe Aerith could have won too and my nightmare would've been over. I feel like my heart's been completely torn out and made me feel so much worse than I ever expected to.

Yeah I can post-hoc rationalize that my saves were for something more justifiable e.g. believing Locke "deserved" it more due to past contest performance (which I do believe, same way Kefka "deserved" it), or counterbalancing TomNook's super shitty saving rationale. But ultimately my saves were just from a place of pure bitterness and sadness so really just as shitty a reason as Tom's. It is what it is, once I started doing those saves I figured I had to put in my full 10, yeah I should have just saved Vanille anyways or just not saved at all, knowing my saves didn't matter anyways since Vanille's lead was insurmountable. If the result was actually close I don't know what I would've done.

For the record Vanille was my #3 in my (unposted) top 15 rankings I made after Day 85. And the "priority triangle" was about supporting runs generally, not finals runs, I mean Vanille was on the same level as Cindy and the Mogs so yeah. My thought process at the outset of this contest for her was more "hey, would be nice if Vanille had a run to the top 30 or so after being a contest non-entity for years", not "hey, would be nice if Vanille won out of nowhere and tore my heart out in the process".

I am happy for the Vanille crew and I'm sad for the Locke crew and such is life, there's always gotta be a winner and a loser (and a 3rd place). And I know this is meant to be a fun game and doesn't ultimately matter and I take it too seriously and yada yada, let's not retread worn ground here please, I'll get over it, but yeah. Very definition of bittersweet for me in that I'm really bitter, but it is sweet that Vanille has her moment in the sun (oh also the "sweet" pun with her name, nice).

MartinFF7 posted...

but who has had no run of consequence in over four contests coming out of nowhere to win it all

Isn't this like...happening much more often than not?

Aerith wasn't going to win against Locke, don't worry. It was better to avoid the third straight

I will keep trying to mentally focus on that Koala.... I mean I feel like it would've been another 50/50 but you're probably right.

Nanis23 posted...

Isn't this like...happening much more often than not?

in leftyera? skipping the Fang year for obvious reasons, Lightning, Squall and Kefka all had repeated strong performances and depth runs leading up to their wins. You could claim Ramza being "out of nowhere" but 2nd place Delita and 3rd place Agrias in the preceding two years make that a lot less of a surprise.

Locke's been an upper midcarder for years and he had a top 15 run recently iirc. I really thought his outlasting Celes & being last VI standing would give him the juice he needed. I could've swore people hated FF13 around this place too? But I guess it's just Lightning animosity, how could anyone hate Vanille tbh

This was Locke's first top ten since his finals loss, but he finished 13th a couple years ago.

Nanis23 posted...

Isn't this like...happening much more often than not?

In general, yeah. We had exceptions for 3 years in a row from Lightning to Squall to Kefka (before that it was really just Kuja and Zidane), and those were pretty recent, and that's when Martin started playing, so kinda explains his mindset.

Tidus and Rydia all had strong showings in the years leading up to their wins it looks like, and Zack, well I guess he had a top 10 year before his win so that's something. Marche, Steiner and Fang being gimmick years so fair enough, and Cloud and Vivi yeah, maybe not so much. You're right that I'm probably clouded by my frame of reference but it's been a pretty nice frame...!

MartinFF7 posted...

But I guess it's just Lightning animosity, how could anyone hate Vanille tbh

It's Snow and Hope we hate.

mnk posted...

It's Snow and Hope we hate.

speak for yourself

KommunistKoala posted...

Aerith wasn't going to win against Locke, don't worry. It was better to avoid the third straight

I mean...I saw a lot of Vanille voters who came out of the woodwork and would have easily switched to Aerith.

Yeah, Locke sucked enough there that even with the outspoken anti-Aeris Vanille savers, I still think Aeris has a good shot of pulling enough Vanille savers to get the win there.

I would've gone to Aeris in a hypothetical Locke/Aeris final. I haven't played VII yet (soon) but I would feel awful voting against her three times in a row, especially when I'm very meh on Locke

I think Aeris v Kefka is already proof of how Aeris v Locke would go. Kefka is much stronger competition and that one ended in coin-flip range.

It would be without Aeris losing the finals two years in a row. From year 1 to 2 she already went from a coinflip loss to Kefka to a comfortable loss to Ramza. Even with that, I think Locke has proven himself to be weak enough competition that Aeris can still beat him.

I want to add that no character "deserves" a win, regardless of past results. That kind of thinking not only turns people against you, but makes it even worse for you if they don't make it.

And honestly, 90% of the time it's just who happens to go out before them.

I threw that word in quotation marks because it was easier than explaining where I was coming from and trust me, I would never use the "d-word" on a character of mine. I dont want to drop the paragraphs I originally typed here but the fact is in the general sports world I do tend to root for players/teams that have done consistently well but not won (England at the world cup every 4 years is the prime example). And that trait has carried over to Save My competitions for me and I know this is all convenient since Aerith is literally in that boat now, but my "rooting for previous performers to win" tendency was front and centre during the Lightning-Squall-Kefka years each time so it's genuine, even if I never materially supported Kefka I was rooting for him in my heart. So that might sound dumb but that's just how I am (dumb, lol)

(Edit: wow I looked up and found an old post where I used the d-word, I am instantly full of shit on this but I think in the context I used it I had what I typed above in mind!!)

I know it's ultimately a game of luck and 90% may be too low a percentage tbh, like I skipped 89 days and 2 hours last year and everything worked out better than this year in my absence??? I'm just too scared to skip that much next year though, lol... maybe I could get away with the first 70 days.

hey I pushed Squall hard for 6 straight years and then he won without me making a single save outside the final

so yeah a lot of it is just things falling into place in the exact right order unless you just have a strong set of people determined to make it happen

But honestly it was for the best that I stepped away for as long as I did. Hosting was mentally draining, and I was starting to take it personally that Squall never won, like it was my fault and wondering why nobody would help him win for my sake like happened for so many others.