EOFF Summer 2011 Census!

[Slothy]

It's that time again folks. Time to gather your worthless opinions regarding the Final Fantasy series, tally up the results and make fun of each and every one of you for being unforgivably wrong about everything.

Once more we'll be asking for the standard demographic questions first, followed by categories relating to the two topics being covered this time: music and visuals. Without further ado, here's the new census form:


First Part
- First FF Played
- Latest FF Played for the first time
- Country of Origin
- FF you've spent the most time playing in total
- Age
- Gender

Music:
Favourite character theme
Favourite normal battle theme
Favourite overworld theme
Favourite boss theme
Favourite final boss theme
Favourite overall track
Favourite soundtrack

Visuals:
Favourite character design
Favourite overall cast design
Favourite non-boss enemy design
Favourite boss design
Favourite spell/ability effect
Favourite town design
Favourite overall art direction
Favourite cutscene

It's a similar format to the last time around so even you lot shouldn't arse this part up. Give us your pick for each category and be sure to go into as much detail as you can about your reasoning. That way I have less work to do during the reveal which is better for all involved. Remember, you can vote for any main FF title, sequel or spin-off.

You have until September 15th to send your entries to me via Mognet (I'm volunteering myself to receive them since I'm a jobless bum and have tons of free time lately). If we aren't getting enough responses before that I will start harassing people for them so save me the trouble and yourself the lecture.

The Professor has spoken.

[Wolf Kanno]

You underestimate the power of stupid people who can arse anything up. :p

[Slothy]

If it helps, I was just trying to build their confidence. I didn't actually believe it.

And I think it's time to start the speculation. I've got FFVIII sweeping the music categories with it's delightful selection of elevator tunes. And clearly the only acceptable answer for the first half of the visuals categories is Quina. The latter half will probably go to the letter G.

[TrollHunter]

FFX obviously deserves all the music awards. That's my thoughts on the matter. Sadly I do not see FFX winning.

[Slothy]

FFX obviously deserves all the music awards. That's my thoughts on the matter. Sadly I do not see FFX winning.

With this bunch of people you never really know. Especially when it comes to music and visuals, something I don't think a lot of people really discuss in much detail in back and forth debates over which game they like more. But so far we've only had 4 responses so who knows where it will all end up by the end. And I don't see yours there Trollhunter, so if you want FFX to win the music awards then send me your votes.

[VeloZer0]

I think it is obvious that we all have to do what everyone does for political elections. Don't vote and then complain bitterly about the results.

[charliepanayi]

Silly question, but is 'last FF played' the last one you played for the first time or the last time you played any FF game (i.e. including replays)

[TrollHunter]

FFX obviously deserves all the music awards. That's my thoughts on the matter. Sadly I do not see FFX winning.

With this bunch of people you never really know. Especially when it comes to music and visuals, something I don't think a lot of people really discuss in much detail in back and forth debates over which game they like more. But so far we've only had 4 responses so who knows where it will all end up by the end. And I don't see yours there Trollhunter, so if you want FFX to win the music awards then send me your votes.

I'll make sure to get my response in by the end of today hopefully. It all depends on if I remember or not. Also for the favorite music do you just put the FF it was in or put the actual song? My first stupid question.

[Slothy]

For each of them try to put the song title and the game it came from. If you're not sure what the title is then name the game and try to name where it played. So if Dancing Mad was your favourite boss theme but you didn't know the name, saying the final boss music from FFVI is fine. I'll try and ask for further clarification if we're not 100% sure of which song someone means. For favourite soundtrack you can obviously just name the game.


Silly question, but is 'last FF played' the last one you played for the first time or the last time you played any FF game (i.e. including replays)

This came up last time I believe and I should have changed the wording for clarification. Latest FF played is the last one you played for the first time. Also, longest played FF is the title you've spent the most time playing in total across all playthroughs. I'll edit the first post so those are a bit clearer.

[NeoCracker]

Character Design and Ability/effect are hard ones to think of answers for. :(

[Del Murder]

I like the categories for this time. I will submit as soon as I know what my answers are. Like Neo said, some of these are difficult because I've never really thought about my favorite cutscene, etc.

[CimminyCricket]

I had a hell of a time answering these too. xD

[Slothy]

So I've been lazy and haven't harassed people for more entries. We have a fair number now, but not nearly the response level we had in the last census. So I'm extending the vote deadline to the arbitrary chosen date of September 15th. The first post has also been edited to reflect this. Expect Mognet message harassment for those who haven't sent votes yet to commence soon.

[Remon]

I finally sent mine ~
I hope I did well :bigsmile:

[Hot Shot]

I sent mine about a week ago. Looking forward to it :)

[Bolivar]

I did it too! I can't wait!

[qwertysaur]

Filling this out was one of the first things I did when I got back here. :bigsmile:

[Fynn]

Sent it. Though I should be studying for my exam retakes...

[Depression Moon]

Sent mine.

[TrollHunter]

I sent in mine before it was cool.

[Slothy]

More like you sent it in before I started harassing people for entries. Just three more days to get them in, then I tally them all and try to get this shit done before my birthday. And for the record, I'll probably keep taking entries if they come in after Thursday. I don't expect I'll just ignore any unless I've already started the reveals.

[Slothy]

Today is the official last day for voting. After that I'll be tallying everything up with the plan being to start reveals next week. If anyone still hasn't gotten their entries in, send them now.

[Slothy]

I wanted to post another update here for everyone so they know what's going on. I've got all of the votes, and received quite a few more in the last few days of voting after I started harassing people for them on Mognet, so thanks everyone who got them in. It's a big help since the more votes the easier it is to have a fun and interesting reveal.

Now I was hoping to plow through the entries and get everything tallied up over today and tomorrow so I could start the reveal on Wednesday, but I wanted to let everyone know there will probably be a little delay in that. I found out earlier today that a good friend of mine from University has been missing since Friday night. A police report was filed by his family yesterday and I've been spending so much time today finding out what people know and what's happening, not to mention worrying, that I got nothing done today. Last I heard the police were going to be looking for volunteers to help search, but I don't have the details yet. If that is the case, then I'll likely try and head out to help, so I'm not sure yet when I'll get to it.

Odds are I'll try and get to the results by the beginning of next week at the latest, one way or another, unless one of the other members of the census committee wants to volunteer some time to dig into the results until I'm ready and able to get back to them.

[qwertysaur]

I can't wait to see the results! :hyper: (Ignoring the fact that I can go to the event committee forum and get them already.)

[Jiro]

Take your time and focus on what needs to be done, dude. We'll still be here when you get back!

[Del Murder]

I can't wait to see the results! :hyper: (Ignoring the fact that I can go to the event committee forum and get them already.)

You may be able to get the results, but where would you get the sarcastic commentary?

[MJN SEIFER]

Has this been uploaded yet?

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm almost finished with the tallies, we're just doing a rule check on one of the questions. Expect it within the week...maybe :shifty:

[MJN SEIFER]

I'm almost finished with the tallies, we're just doing a rule check on one of the questions. Expect it within the week...maybe :shifty: Got it, thanks :) I hope you got mine after all that, it was one of the few times I sent it in early (even though I've only done to censuses so far)/

[Jiro]

Oooh boy so close now :D

[Slothy]

Hello everyone. My name is Vivi22, but you may call me the Professor. Why? Because once more we've come to the end of our little course, you're papers have been graded and most of you have passed with flying colours.

That's right folks, it's results time as we go into glorious detail about each and every one of your responses to our questions about things only we nerds give a crap about and argue until we're all blue in the face and wondering why girls don't like us while we cry ourselves to sleep.

But before we begin I should clarify one thing: considering the metric for success in this case was whether or not you all lived up to my expectations and disappointed me completely, when I say you all passed with flying colours I mean you succeeded in being utterly and objectively wrong and making me hate every last one of you.

That said, I can at least say I'm pleased that many took the time to vote this time around. Numbers were low for a bit, but once I started threatening people the turn out ended up being around the same as last time I believe.

We had 29 entries, 25 of them being from the menfolk, and 4 being from the gender that wishes they were menfolk. A special shout out to Shlupquack for not voting at all, even after I sent her a message via mognet. I think my mistake was assuming she was literate and not including enough pretty pictures to catch her interest.

But enough about that, it's time to get down to business. Up first were the music categories, beginning with:

Favourite Character Theme:
Now this may surprise you all to hear, but this category actually didn't totally disappoint me, and as it turns out, the top three voted songs are all actually good. In first place we had Aerith's theme with five votes, followed by the objectively superior Terra's theme with 4 votes (but I'll let this one slide since I'm in a good mood), and a tie for third between Loss of Me/Rose of May (Beatrix's theme) and Cid Highwind Theme, each with three votes. As always, I'll just post the full voting results at the bottom of the post.

Special mention goes to AngelWing's who voted for One Winged Angel, knowing full well it was a boss theme and not a character theme but voting for it anyway. Such a rebel. I'll let it slide though because she's one of the few people around here I can stand, and having boob's doesn't hurt her case either. Now onto what some of you had to say about your choices. As usual, if you wanted to stay anonymous then you participated in the wrong forum event.


- Favourite character theme
Julia ~ What's better then the piano version of eyes on me? Nothing. Her theme is so sweet and romantic, it even feels a bit nostalgic now.

What could be better than that? Well, a kick in the nuts for starters, but at least it's still more enjoyable than playing FFXIII.


Favourite character theme
Fang's

Jessweeee♪, Jessweeee♪, Jessweeee♪.
Jessweeee♪. :doublecolbert:
Do we need to have an intervention? It's ok to admit you have a problem. And if you ever want to talk about how wrong you are I'm always here for you from 8am to 5pm Atlantic time. :squeeze:

Anyway, moving on to the next category because many of you do not say enough for me to simply skate through this with mass quotes, we have:

Favorite Normal Battle Theme:

Or at least we would have that, but looking at the results I need to confer with Wolf who did all of the vote tallying to determine if one of them is a typo, so instead we'll skip on over to:

Favourite Overworld Map Theme:
Kicking things off in first place we have the Main Theme of FFVII with 9 votes. Now if this were a poll about story or gameplay and any of you voted for anything FFVII related, even if you had a valid argument for it, you'd all be wrong. But you know what, if FFVII got one thing right it would be the sound track, and this was actually my pick for best overworld theme. It just captures the mood of the game and the world perfectly, not to mention being quite long for an overworld theme at the time.

In second we continue the trend of very close top three's with Over the Hill, the overworld theme for FFIX with 8 votes. Not high on my list of favourites, but it isn't completely awful, and a vote for FFIX is a vote against FFVIII and FFXIII, so at the very least I can say that 8 of you didn't totally smurf up. Third place is snatched up by the always wonderful Terra's Theme with 6 votes.

You know, maybe I should start looking at these entries before I declare that all of you are failures from now on. It seems as though there may not be anything wrong with your ears, even if your brains are suspect.


- Favourite overworld theme
Final Fantasy VI overworld ~ Epic, perfect for the overworld. It feels tragic and sad, but somehow gives off the feeling that you will stand up to them. It's also called Terra's theme. Sums up her story pretty well.

I hate to quote you again so soon Remon, but seriously, you were one of only a few that actually said anything about their choice (I'm guessing most of you are only slightly more literate than Shlup). The fact that you're making a good point about on of the best songs in the entire series doesn't hurt either.


I should be studying for my exam retakes, but since I'm too stressed out to think about anythnig at the moment, I think I'll humor you, Mr. Veevs ;)

This has nothing to do with an overworld theme obviously, but Fynn didn't explain his choice. I just wanted to point out that this guy was risking failing at something that actually mattered so he could have the chance to fail in the census. What's Shlup's excuse?


Favourite overworld theme: Final Fantasy VII Main Theme

This was his actual answer though. Hopefully you were as successful on your exams as you were with this question. Actually, he seems to be more successful than most, since he also voted Terra's Theme as best character theme, and he listed Mystic Quest as his first FF that he ever played. In fact, I'm so proud of his answers that I'm willing to overlook the fact that he almost voted FFXIII best soundtrack. Just this once... :shifty:

So that's going to be it for now. So far you guys are actually disappointing me at disappointing me, but I'm sure that'll change. Also, if anyone wants to make this more interesting for themselves you can either:
A) Have a drink every time I take a shot at Shlup,
B) Place bets on how long these shots can continue until my recognized member status is revoked and my body is found floating down river, or
C) All of the above.

Here's the full results for each question. More to come soon as we continue the results roll out.

Favorite Character Theme
Aerith's Theme (5 votes)
Terra's Theme (4 votes)
Loss of Me/Rose of May ~Beatrix's theme (3 votes)
Cid Highwind Theme (3 votes)
Clash on the Big Bridge ~ Gilgamesh's theme (2 votes)
One Winged Angel*
Fang's Theme
Eiko's theme
Setzer's Theme
Ex-Death's Theme
Julia
Celes' Theme
Vivi's Theme
Shadow's Theme

Favourite Overworld Theme
FFVII Main Theme (9 votes)
Over the Hill (8 Votes)
Terra's Theme (6 votes)
Blue Fields
Searching for Friends

[Remon]

Poor Shlup.

[Slothy]

If Shlup didn't want me making fun of her then she should have sent me a picture of her boobs. Because god knows actually voting wouldn't have stopped me.

[MJN SEIFER]

I voted for "Searching For Friends" - damn, looks like you didn't get my votes after all :cry:

[Wolf Kanno]

Searching for Friends is up there so we got your votes, though I would like to bring up the fact that most of you were incredibly vague and obviously don't know much about some of the soundtracks. Some of you simply said which numbered FF you liked and didn't notice that some games actually have multiple battle themes or map themes. I have a feeling Searching For Friends would actually be higher but a few people simply said WoR map theme, the issue is, there are two of them... Searching For Friends and Dark World, not to mention the Veldt has its own theme, but that wasn't much of an issue. While I was able to get some people to redo their votes, I couldn't get to everyone.

The Favorite Cutscene Section also had issues but oddly enough, its the opposite, some were too specific, only liking a simple part of a larger scene, and others listed scenes that technically don't count (it was suppose to be favorite FMV but some of you kept listing pre-VII stuff) but we decided to keep them anyway for this round.

[MJN SEIFER]

Oh I see. I saw it up there but it didn't say how many votes it had, so I assumed that you didn't get my votes, and assumed no one voted for it.

[Jiro]

If it doesn't have the number of votes beside it, then it only got one vote! :D

I thought I had done a good job of not completely disappointing you this census, Professor! Oh well, better luck next time.

PS Shlup is a slacker, no excuse! NONE AT ALL.

[Del Murder]

I thought a cutscene is any length of the game you aren't actually playing. Why wouldn't pre-FFVII count? :confused:

[Slothy]

I thought a cutscene is any length of the game you aren't actually playing. Why wouldn't pre-FFVII count? :confused:

The question did fall under the category of best visuals. There wasn't much pre-FFVI that wasn't done using the game engine even when there was a cutscene, so I think when we made the question list we just had the unintentional assumption that when we said cutscene we were talking about the sort of pre-rendered FMV's the series is rather famous for now. But since we weren't really clear we let it slide since that was obviously a mistake in our wording.

Yep, we even manage to disappoint me from time to time. :D

[Jessweeee♪]

Hey, Fang's Theme is cool. :(

[Bolivar]

Awesome! Want more commentary though! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of it.

[Fynn]

Hey, Fang's Theme is cool. :(

I agree! :D Don't let him get to you ;)

Didn't expect to hear such praise, though. I... I think I got something in my eye... :cry:

[Jiro]

You're a trooper son :up:

[Slothy]

Hello once again folks. We return with more revelations and pontifications on your voting in this census. Will you all continue to disappoint me? Will you amaze us all and spontaneously develop good taste? We'll have to see.

Before we get down to it though, some recently discovered video explains why Shlup failed to vote in the census.

Cat typing - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQE8obUJ1U4)

Or at least I like to imagine that's why she didn't vote. It beats having the image of her being a lazy slob who can't type out a few words on the keyboard. Actually, if I had asked that cat to vote we might have gotten more of an entry out of them.

Now then, on to the next category:
Favorite Normal Battle Theme

It's just as well that I delayed this since it flows well with the theme of the day. That theme being songs to kick ass to. It will also go well with kicking all of your asses when you all inevitably pick the wrong songs.

Coming in first we had Man With the Machine Gun with 7 votes. I'm not overly pleased to see FFVIII win anything, but at least if you guys had to vote for it you voted for one of the two songs on the soundtrack that doesn't completely suck. I'l give you all the benefit of the doubt that that could indicate some amount of hearing ability on your parts and that it was not simply random chance, since the odds of each of you picking one of those two songs at random are only 1/37, and frankly I don't think anyone here is that lucky, as evidenced by the fact that you're all still here. :mad:

In second place we had Fighting from FFVII with 5 votes. Now this I can live with. FFVII's soundtrack was utterly smurfing amazing throughout, even if playing the damn thing is as much fun as having the condom break during casual sex with your ex. But most people never really seem to give it the credit it deserves because it was made with blatantly midi sounds which are "inferior" in some way to the better (but honestly, still tit) samples used in later soundtracks. But you know what I say to those people? Go back to flinging your own poo at eachother, picking the lice out of eachothers hair, and voting for Man With the Machine Gun. The rest of us are trying to have a civilization here.

Rounding out third place we have Don't Be Afraid (FFVIII) and the FFIV Battle Theme with 4 votes each. FFIV is certainly cool so 4 of you will be welcome in my survival shelter when the zombie and/or robot apocalypse comes. To those of you who voted for Don't Be Afraid, I've heard worse songs, but you still voted for FFVIII. You're still welcome to come, but if we need meat shields or food, we're going to remember how you voted. :)

Now what did you all have to say about your choices?


- Favourite normal battle theme
Man with machine gun ~ I like this theme for it's upbeat nature. It makes me want to grab a machine gun and go fight werewolves in a forest.

I may not care for anyone voting for FFVIII, but you know what? When anyone's reaction to a song is wanting to grab a machine gun and go shoot some werewolves there's really only one thing that can be said: smurf yeah! :kakapo:


Favourite normal battle theme: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest!

One person voted for Mystic Quest. Shame on all of you. Shame on me too, but mostly on all of you, and MOSTLY on Fynn. Your first FF was Mystic Quest and you forgot to vote for it's awesome battle theme? I'm starting to wonder if Shlup really is the biggest failure around here...

Nope, she definitely is. There's really no competition there.

We'll have to end it there for now. I thought I'd have time to get through two this morning but damn it takes a long time to type these out. Maybe I could get Shlup to not write one or two and save me some time?

I should be able to carve out enough time later on to finish off today's battle theme with best boss theme, and best final boss theme. So until then, listen to Dancing Mad on repeat. Because if you voted anything else for favourite final boss theme then you may not want to show your face around here anymore.

Here are the full results for battle theme, bracketed comments are always Wolf's though I may share his sentiment on occasion:
Favorite Normal Battle Theme
Man With the Machine Gun (7 votes)
Fighting (5 votes)
Don't Be Afraid (4 votes)
FFIV Battle Theme (4 votes)
Battle 1 ~ IX Battle Theme (3 votes)
FFVI Battle Theme (2 votes)
FFI
FFX (wtf?!)
Mystic Quest

[Jiro]

I should really go play some FFMQ, it sounds like it'll save my life.

1/37 isn't so bad. I'd take those odds!

[Flying Arrow]

I wish I could have been able to help out again this year, but good job again guys!

[MJN SEIFER]

I thought Still More Fighting would be boss music, not normal battle...

I think I voted for "Man With a Machine Gun" - I was unsure if that counted as a chracter theme or a battle theme though, but since it only plays on Battles I figured it was okay.

Also, FFVIII is my second favorite FF game, as you can guess my favorite is FFVII, I mean how could I like one and not the other?

[Slothy]

Still more fighting was a typo on Wolf's part. I remembered to fix it when I listed the top three but not when I copy and pasted the full results. Good catch SEIFER. I'll even overlook your voting for ffviii since you caught my mistake.

[Fynn]

FFX (wtf?!)

Oh, I couldn't agree more :D I mean, some tracks on the X OST are fine, but this is the absolute worst battle theme ever. Not just normal battle theme, not FF battle theme, but worst battle theme EVER! It's just so... BORING! UNINSPIRED! Just. Plain. UGH!

[Wolf Kanno]

^ You can tell Vivi22 is copying and pasting the results from my original post of the results. Yes, W-T-F INDEED... on voting for FFX's godawful regular battle theme :mad2:

[Remon]

I don't think it's that bad :[

[MJN SEIFER]

^ You can tell Vivi22 is copying and pasting the results from my original post of the results. Yes, W-T-F INDEED... on voting for FFX's godawful regular battle theme :mad2:

Isn't FFX's normal battle based on old hunting song? Probably explains why it's bad (even though most of FFX's music is actually pretty good.)

[Jessweeee♪]

FFX (wtf?!)

Oh, I couldn't agree more :D I mean, some tracks on the X OST are fine, but this is the absolute worst battle theme ever. Not just normal battle theme, not FF battle theme, but worst battle theme EVER! It's just so... BORING! UNINSPIRED! Just. Plain. UGH!

FFX's battle theme is the one and only reason I didn't vote FFX best soundtrack. I mean, just one bad track out of a bunch of awesome ones is pretty good, but when that bad track is the main battle theme that you have to hear every eight steps :stare:

[Fynn]

I don't think it's that bad :[

Well then, you're wrong :|

[TrollHunter]

ff4's battle theme is where it's at~ :cool:
ff6 has an amazing battle theme too.
[Final Fantasy Core!] The Decisive Battle - Matduke Remix - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur4aQEp6gQ4) (amazing remix of it)
10's is just... hold on it wasn't the least bit memorable let me check it.
oh... that one... :|

[Jiro]

I don't think it's that bad :[

It's better to keep dissenting opinions to yourself in situations like this, the mob gets violent :p

That remix is pretty sweet too, TrollHunter

[Slothy]

I'm angry. Wait, is angry the best word? Maybe furious? Enraged? No, probably nothing that extreme, but I don't think angry really fits either. Displeased perhaps? Yeah that sounds like the delightfully intellectual and polite way to say it. Seems fitting of someone referring to themselves as The Professor, so we'll go with that. I'm displeased.

You people are not making this easy for me. I try and try to demean you, to put you down, and tear your hopes and dreams to pieces, but you have to make things difficult. I mean I'm trying here. I'm putting lot's of work into this and you guys are just refusing to work with me. Maybe not in the Shlup sense of literally refusing to participate, but certainly not more than a step or two above her apathy.

Favorite Boss Theme
Still More Fighting (8 votes)
Decisive Battle ~ FFVI Boss Theme (5 votes)
Battle 2 ~ IX Boss Theme (3 votes)
FFIV Boss Battle (3 votes)
Force Your Way (2 votes)
Battle With Seymour(2 votes)
Saber's Edge
Clash on the Big Bridge
Battle with the Four Fiends
Dark Messenger

I'm changing things up here to highlight the problem. Look at those results. Just sit there and look at them for a second. Do you see the problem? Can you comprehend why this is so difficult?

Still More Fighting? Awesome! Decisive Battle? smurf yeah! Battle 2? Far more badass than a title that lame would lead you to believe.

Now normally I'd just keep moving down the list and find something to make fun of. So let's keep going. Final Fantasy IV Boss battle? Almost as good as a nice perky set of tits. Force Your Way? It may be from FFVIII but then nothing is perfect. Battle with Seymour? One of the only songs on the FFX soundtrack that doesn't cause a normal persons ears to bleed. I could keep going, but what am I really left with to make fun of? Saber's Edge? It's on the very short list of things in FFXIII that didn't make me want to toss the disc in a wood chipper.

Well, I suppose I can always chalk it up to the fact that the boss themes in FF games are traditionally such strong pieces that I don't think you can find a truly bad one. It's not your fault then I guess. I mean some of you at least tried and voted for songs from games like FFVIII and XIII. So I appreciate the effort. And at least I can still say you're all a little challenged for not picking the Decisive Battle. Have to take the little victories where I can find them I suppose.


Favourite boss theme
...
I never really pay that much attention to the music...

:irked:


Favourite boss theme: FFVII, Dark Messenger

Laddy voted twice? :mad2:


Favorite

There's a u in favourite thank you very much. :doublecolbert:

Moving on:

Favorite Final Boss Theme
Dancing Mad (10 votes)
One Winged Angel (6 votes)
Final Decisive Battle ~ FFX Final Boss (2 votes)
The Extreme (2 Votes)
The Final Battle ~ FFIV Final Boss
Mystic Quest Final Boss Theme
Grand Cross
Dawn ~ Chains of Promathia

And I run into the same problem again. Not only is every song good (at least from what I could hear of the FFXI song in titty Youtube videos), but the 16+ minute smurfing epic that is Dancing Mad got first place. What is this feeling I have welling up inside of me? I really hope it's not happiness. It feels kind of warm and fuzzy. I'm not sure I like this. The only warm and fuzzies I want are better found at the bottom of a bottle of Jack Daniels thank you very much, or even a good genital rash in a pinch.


Favourite final boss theme: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Once again Martyr gets special mention for voting for Mystic Quest, unlike the only two people who listed it as their first FF title. I'm looking at you Fynn. And don't think my reflection won't get the stink eye next time I see him. :mad:

EDIT: I just realized I only made fun of Shlup once. Since I'm a bit OCD about liking even numbers: Shlup sucks. That'll be all.

[Fynn]

Hey, cut me some slack. I was like 10 when I played Mystic Quest and I can barely remember anything about it, let alone the music! :roll2

[Slothy]

Why would I cut you some slack when I won't cut myself some?

[MJN SEIFER]

I finally get a mention, and it's based on the fact I prefer American spellings :roll2

[Jessweeee♪]

There's a u in favourite thank you very much. :doublecolbert:

Moving on:

Favorite Final Boss Theme

tee hee

[Slothy]

I blame Wolf since I copy/paste all category titles from the results he gave me.

[Fynn]

There's a u in favourite thank you very much. :doublecolbert:

Moving on:

Favorite Final Boss Theme

tee hee

Nice one, Jess :D

[Wolf Kanno]

I blame Wolf since I copy/paste all category titles from the results he gave me.

Spell it like an American, you turncoat. :colbert: Also it's RI YOU not RE YOU and Aeris not Aerith, its not a croissant its a croissandwich :p

[MJN SEIFER]

American spellings FTW... whatever that stands for!

[Bolivar]

I think FFVI and VII should be switched for the last two polls. Commentary been some decent comedy, Lord knows we could all use some when we come to visit this site... :(

[Jiro]

I must say, I'm impressed with the results as well. It's like we all decided to just fuck with his head a little bit.

[Slothy]

I could have written a nice long intro for today, but then I saw the results I have to present...

Long story short, we'll be finishing up the music section today, and three of you need to be shot.

Favourite (with a "u". Suck it WK) Overall Track
We're going to go a little backwards here and start with second place. I would normally start with third place, but that's a 20 way tie for last so smurf that noise.

In second place it was a tie between To Zanarkand and Dancing Mad with 2 votes each. In fact, my vote for Dancing Mad is the only thing that prevented a 21 way tie for last, which is reason enough to be a little upset with all of you. A song from FFX, no matter how good it may be is not better than Dancing Mad. Period. End of story. So you can see why I was a bit miffed, but whatever. There were a lot of songs to choose from, and to be fair, those 20 of you who voted for the last place finishers all picked good songs, so I guess I can't be too miffed with you.

But then I saw this: Eyes on Me (3 Votes)

o.O
o.O
o.O

Three of you voted for this piece of tripe? Three of you made this assault on my ears and on the last vestiges of good taste that remain on this forum the top pick for best overall track? This sappy, mundane piece of tripe? I would have expected something like that from Shlup, before I found out she can't read that is, but from the rest of you? Really?

And what do you three have to say for yourselves?


Favorite overall track: Eyes on Me

Not much apparently.


Favourite overall track: Eyes on Me

Not you too AngelWings! And here I thought you were cool. :cry:

Favourite OST
Ok, Vivi, get a hold of yourself. Big boys don't cry, we've got to keep this show rolling.

*sniff*

Ahem. For those the trained Panda/Tiger hybrid assassin's haven't already killed we'll move on to favourite OST. This one is much better overall with FFVII coming in first with 7 votes, FFIX in second with 6 votes, and FFVI rounding out the top three with 5 votes. I'm going to have to chalk FFVI taking third up to some of you being too young/uneducated to have truly experienced the grandeur of it's soundtrack and choosing more recent entries.

But when we move passed the top three we see some issues crop up.
XIII ( 2 votes)

Why did we let Jessweeee♪ vote twice?

Among the last place finishers we had FFVIII and FFX-2 getting one vote each. I don't try to question one vote for FFVIII anymore. As long as I know MJN SEIFER sent in a response that kind of explains everything. Well, maybe not why he likes FFVIII, but it does explain where the vote came from. But FFX-2? Did they mute it and play a different soundtrack than the one I heard over top of it? Maybe they stuck the first Spice Girls album on repeat until they were done and didn't realize that's not what the game sounds like (though it is marginally better). Who the hell votes for that?


Favourite soundtrack
Final Fantasy X-2 ~ Pretty funky soundtrack. The themes are upbeat and match the game really well. Some of them are quite memorable, like Yuna's Ballad, Yuna's theme, Let me blow you a kiss, and many others.

You know, I should probably look at who voted before going off on a tangent, otherwise Remon might be the only one consistently getting quoted here.

Full results:
Favourite Overall Track
Eyes on Me (3 Votes)
To Zanarkand (2 votes)
Dancing Mad (2 Votes)
Epitaph
Temple of Fiends
Balance Restores ~ FFVI Ending Theme
Summoned Beast Battle
Still More Fighting
Season's of the Witch
Forgotten Memory in the Storm
Those Whom We Must Protect
Out of the Frying Pan
Sending a Dream into the Universe
You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet
Aerith's Theme
Man With the Machine Gun
Place I'll Return to Someday
Sounds of the Wind
Giza Plains
Cosmo Canyon
Rose of May
Valla de Flamenco
Third Ode: Memoria dela Stona

Favourite OST
VII (7 votes)
IX (6 votes)
VI (5 Votes)
XIII ( 2 votes)
VIII
Mystic Quest
X
X-2
Dissidia Duodecim

PS: Is the soundtrack for Dissidia Duodecim any good? I know less about that soundtrack than Shlup knows about typing so I wasn't sure if I was supposed to make fun of the one person who voted for it?

[Remon]

What's wrong with Eyes on me? :(

[Wolf Kanno]

It's associated with VIII and Vivi22 hates VIII. ;)

[Fynn]

What's wrong with Eyes on me? :(

Shh, the Prof. might hear you.

[Slothy]

It's associated with VIII and Vivi22 hates VIII. ;)

Oh come now, I don't hate everything related to VIII, even if much of the game is kind of shitty. Man with the Machine Gun is obviously a great tune, and there are others on the soundtrack. But honestly, I don't think I like a single thing about that song. I was even listening to it while typing that post to make sure I wasn't just remembering things wrong or confusing it for something else, and I really find no redeeming value in that song. I don't like the melody, the vocals swing wildly between grating my ears and boring me to tears, and from what I was paying attention to as far as lyrics it was some pretty sappy crap. I just don't see how that song gets any love, let alone as much as it does get. There are better songs on the VIII soundtrack alone.

Hell, I'd rather listen to every version of Hymn of the Fayth back to back than listen to Eyes on Me again at the moment, and that shit gets old fast. I apologize for any childhoods I just spat on. :D

[charliepanayi]

This is all worth it to see Vivi22 get endlessly enraged about anything FFVIII-related.

And Eyes on Me is great.

[AngelWings8]

Special mention goes to AngelWing's who voted for One Winged Angel, knowing full well it was a boss theme and not a character theme but voting for it anyway. Such a rebel. I'll let it slide though because she's one of the few people around here I can stand, and having boob's doesn't hurt her case either.

<looks down=""> ...WHOA! I do have boobs! :eek:

And GO EYES ON ME!!!! :love: I LOVE FAYE WONG! :jess: Who was the third Eyes on Me voter?!</looks>

[MJN SEIFER]

I have a topic in planning that will explain why I like Eyes on Me so much. The topic it's self isn't completly about Eyes on Me, just one part is.

[Jessweeee♪]

Duodecim OST is great, because it has four tracks from each game represented, and most of them are among the best in the series. But half of them are from games I don't like so nyah!

[TrollHunter]

Yeah, I love the soundtrack for duodecim. I was actually pleasantly surprised when I played it.

[Slothy]

This is all worth it to see Vivi22 get endlessly enraged about anything FFVIII-related.

If it wasn't clear yet, I'll get absolutely enraged by pretty much anything you guys do. Even when you give the right answers, somehow you're still wrong.



<looks down=""> ...WHOA! I do have boobs! :eek:

You'll have to forgive me for staring.


Who was the third Eyes on Me voter?!</looks>

You know, I checked every entry I got and couldn't find it. I don't know if someone changed an answer when WK was contacting people for clarification or if he's just fucking with me.

[Wolf Kanno]

Probably because I counted charliepanayi's choice as just Eyes On Me because it is the bulk of the FFVIII Ending theme, which is what he voted for but once again, the game's ending theme is actually like five different tracks but I guess I think Eyes on Me when I think of VIII;s ending theme.

[Madonna]

I almost feel horrible for not explaining any answers, but it does spare me direct hits from the rod.

Eyes on Me is a horrible song; nearly anything else is preferable.

[charliepanayi]

You messed with my answer Wolf! *shakes fist*

[MJN SEIFER]

I wish I had been able to explain my answers to, but I got my census quite close to the deadline.

[Wolf Kanno]

You messed with my answer Wolf! *shakes fist*

Next time be more specific, besides, it screwed with Vivi22 so I say we're even. :p

Anyway, to prove that I didn't create the committee purely for the sake of pushing all the work onto them, I'm going to start the next section of the census data, basically the visual section cause god knows how important I feel about graphics in a game. ;) This of course also has nothing to do with us having to tranq and detain Vivi22 who went on a murderous rampage after the latest results in the census, the people he murdered will be honored by a moment of silence.... okay onto what you are all really here for, mainly to learn who you poor poor misguided souls voted for Favorite Character designs. Personally I'm impressed because we were not overloaded with your sick yaoi pictures of AC Cloud and Sephiroth from your secret slash flicks I know a few of you are working on. Instead I was given some disturbing if not tasteful nude photos of Red XIII who received 2 votes and was placed into third place

Let's see his best moments:

35056

*excerpt from the issues of fuzzy nudes*

35055

"Leggo My Eggo"

35057

Bugenhagan: Okay Nanaki, just move him a few more inches left...
Nanaki: Grandfather... isn't it a little disrespectful to have my dead father used as a tourist sign?
Bugenhagan: Well the authorities shut down my Wutai sweatshop and discovered the hidden ingredient in my special Cosmo Brownies and now I have to pay some fines and bills. It doesn't help the only time we get customers out here is when their vehicles break down in front of the place. Unless you want to go with my idea of a petting zoo and kitty rides. with all those disgusting drooling children all over your fur, instead of using your dad as a free tourist signpost...
Nanaki: ....you said a little more to the left?

Someone needs to tell him his tail is on fire but oh well... Anyway, our second place winner is a tie between two guys who have a lot in common, they both have some of the gaudiest weapons in the series, they both are "Mr. Personality" in their respected games, and they they both share a love of scowls, scars, and saving dumb bimbo female leads (and sometimes their effeminate boyfriends) of course I'm talking about Squall and Auron, who both received 3 votes each to tie for second place. Let's see some photos.


Auron, man. He's just the epitome of badass. His outfit is also far less nonsensical than every other character in the whole damn series.


Squall (From the jacket to the gunblade to the matching scars with Seifer, I think he was just the best designed character with the cool little touches that made him visually memorable.)

35058
Fetch me some damn sake,
its medicinal fact that sake
gets your heart running first thing in the morning...

35059
I'm pouting...

35060
What you don't know is that I've already killed the fiends,
my back just went out and now I'm stuck in this badass pose...

35062
No less than 6 belts can contain my awesomness

35063
Sitting on top of a building, hundred of stories above ground, with several minarets in the architectural design, with a giant gourd of sake, I can't see how this plan is going to go wrong. Now excuse me while I drink myself to the point I forget what a minaret is...

http://www.scribblemoose.co.uk/images/miscimages/sssquall.jpg
Unbeknownst to Squall, whenever he smiles, a puppy dies.

and the winner will be revealed soon...

[Slothy]

*mumble*..Eyes...on...M..e...*snore* *mumble* s...mushblood...*snore*

[Wolf Kanno]

So now its come down to the number 1 but before that, I'll list the rest of the entries.

....
Squall Leonhart (3 votes)
Auron (3 Votes)
Red XIII (2 votes)

Rinoa Heartilly
Faris Scherwiz
Faris Scherwiz Dancer Outfit
Vincent Valentine
Gilgamesh
Umaro
Adelbert Steiner
Cloud Strife (AC outfit)
Agrias Oaks
Locke Cole
Zack Fair
Balthier
Ultimecia

The favorite Character Design winner goes to not only a well loved character, but one who is also iconic to the FF franchise. Hoisting a weapon as tall as he is, and dealing with issues of personal identity and the value of life. He battles an infamous silver haired bishonen bad guy with unnatural magic power and battles to save not only his planet but the life cycle it entails... so without further ado! The number one winner is...

Vivi Oruntia! with Six votes! ... Who did you think I was talking about?

35064
This is all so very sudden, I'm actually the most well liked design?

35065

For the last time... I'm not Orko from He-Man.
So go die in this fire...

35066

This is my good side...

35067

No one would ever expect the world to be dominated by a bunch of adorable black mages... its' all going according to plan.

35068

*Vivi couldn't hide his shock when Zidane explained where babies come from... the monkey porno didn't help either...*

[Del Murder]

I think I picked Auron, but Vivi is the clear winner since like you said, his design is iconic of the whole franchise.

[Wolf Kanno]

I was pretty happy, I voted Faris (original Amano design) but I am pretty happy with Vivi because he might be my favorite character in the series.

[Carl the Llama]

Just thought I would do a quick recap of the results so far:

Favourite Character Theme
Aerith's Theme (5 votes)
Terra's Theme (4 votes)
Loss of Me/Rose of May ~Beatrix's theme (3 votes)
Cid Highwind Theme (3 votes)
Clash on the Big Bridge ~ Gilgamesh's theme (2 votes)
One Winged Angel
Fang's Theme
Eiko's theme
Setzer's Theme
Ex-Death's Theme
Julia
Celes' Theme
Vivi's Theme
Shadow's Theme

Favourite Overworld Theme
FFVII Main Theme (9 votes)
Over the Hill (8 Votes)
Terra's Theme (6 votes)
Blue Fields
Searching for Friends

Favorite Normal Battle Theme
Man With the Machine Gun (7 votes)
Fighting (5 votes)
Don't Be Afraid (4 votes)
FFIV Battle Theme (4 votes)
Battle 1 ~ IX Battle Theme (3 votes)
FFVI Battle Theme (2 votes)
FFI
FFX (wtf?!)
Mystic Quest

Favorite Boss Theme
Still More Fighting (8 votes)
Decisive Battle ~ FFVI Boss Theme (5 votes)
Battle 2 ~ IX Boss Theme (3 votes)
FFIV Boss Battle (3 votes)
Force Your Way (2 votes)
Battle With Seymour(2 votes)
Saber's Edge
Clash on the Big Bridge
Battle with the Four Fiends
Dark Messenger

Favorite Final Boss Theme
Dancing Mad (10 votes)
One Winged Angel (6 votes)
Final Decisive Battle ~ FFX Final Boss (2 votes)
The Extreme (2 Votes)
The Final Battle ~ FFIV Final Boss
Mystic Quest Final Boss Theme
Grand Cross
Dawn ~ Chains of Promathia

Favourite Overall Track
Eyes on Me (3 Votes)
To Zanarkand (2 votes)
Dancing Mad (2 Votes)
Epitaph
Temple of Fiends
Balance Restores ~ FFVI Ending Theme
Summoned Beast Battle
Still More Fighting
Season's of the Witch
Forgotten Memory in the Storm
Those Whom We Must Protect
Out of the Frying Pan
Sending a Dream into the Universe
You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet
Aerith's Theme
Man With the Machine Gun
Place I'll Return to Someday
Sounds of the Wind
Giza Plains
Cosmo Canyon
Rose of May
Valla de Flamenco
Third Ode: Memoria dela Stona

Favourite OST
VII (7 votes)
IX (6 votes)
VI (5 Votes)
XIII ( 2 votes)
VIII
Mystic Quest
X
X-2
Dissidia Duodecim

Favourite Character Design
Vivi Oruntia (6 Votes)
Squall Leonhart (3 votes)
Auron (3 Votes)
Red XIII (2 votes)
Rinoa Heartilly
Faris Scherwiz
Faris Scherwiz Dancer Outfit
Vincent Valentine
Gilgamesh
Umaro
Adelbert Steiner
Cloud Strife (AC outfit)
Agrias Oaks
Locke Cole
Zack Fair
Balthier
Ultimecia

[MJN SEIFER]

Vivi is the clear winner since like you said, his design is iconic of the whole franchise. Don't forget he's named after Final Fantasy :p

[Del Murder]

Huh?

[TrollHunter]

Vivi is the clear winner since like you said, his design is iconic of the whole franchise. Don't forget he's named after Final Fantasy :p

...what?

[MJN SEIFER]

"'F' is the sixth letter in the English alphabet. Write out Vivi's name as VI-VI, substitute 'F' for VI, and you get FF - the acronym for our favorite RPG series."
Admitidly they say it's probably a coincidence, and I doubt it would be something did deliberate, but I always found it fun, so I often make joking refferences to it.

[VeloZer0]

Especially coincidental when you factor in English wordplay usually doesn't correlate as well into Japanese.

[MJN SEIFER]

Especially coincidental when you factor in English wordplay usually doesn't correlate as well into Japanese. That is the distinct possiblity.

[Jiro]

I didn't vote for Vivi because there are too many black mages and they all deserved to win, right. Or I was out of it, or something. I am not even sure why I voted for Auron. He's pretty sweet though.

[Jessweeee♪]

Where did our Auron smiley go? :<

[Slothy]

*YAWN*

tit, those were some good drugs guys. You should shoot me up with some tranquilizers more often so I'm not burdened with presenting the crap you call your opinions.

So where were we? I suppose I should accept the award for best character design, but I don't believe in intelligent design, so as sexy as I am, there's really no need to award me for it. Unless the award comes with strippers, blow, and pictures of Shlups tits (I assume they're nice since there's no other explanation for making someone who can't read an Admin) then smurf yeah, give me an award!

I guess we'll move things along to:

Favourite Cast Design
That was a nifty thing Wolf did with torturing you guys by holding out on the first place finisher for a while. Since I don't like the lot of you all that much, I think I'll pilfer that idea from him. So where to begin? Well, how about with the three way tie for third place? Or more like the competition to see who can give the dumbest smurfing answer I've ever seen.

So the first third place finisher was FFVII with 3 votes:

35081

Could be worse I guess. There's some interesting looking characters like Cait Sith riding his giant mog doll, Red XIII, and the chain smoking, skewer loving Cid. And this was Nomura pre-belt obsession so we don't have to look at anything half as visually confusing as the mess that is the lower half of Lulu:

35082

And each character in FFVII has a fairly striking and instantly recognizable silhouette so even if you just blacked them out you could still tell easily who was who. So not so bad so far. Next up was FFVIII with 3 votes, proving that I really can't expect that much from you, even when I see a glimmer of hope:

35083

I'm really not sure how much I can really say about how bad this is. Sure, I realize that that isn't a picture of the whole cast, but I'm lazy and that's what google gave me so suck it up buttercup. But could you really get much more bland? The strong silhouettes of FFVII? Gone. Clothes? More colourful than most characters in the game, but that's because most of the characters are either completely bland themselves, or Galbadia soldier number 15,876. It's sad when the only way to make the main cast stand out is to make everyone else look even less visually interesting than them, but I shouldn't be surprised by things being pretty bland in FFVIII since it's easily the most appropriate descriptor for just about the entire game. But even with as bad as voting FFVIII best in anything is it could have been worse. The three of you could have instead been the three that voted for this crap:

35084

Yep, FFXIII. Really? I have to say guys, you need your eyes checked. No, really, go see an optometrist because I think you have cataracts, or eyeball cancer or something. How else do we explain it? Clothing so visually busy and at times nonsensical that it's hard to look at? Check. Stereotypical hero in a trenchcoat? Check. Token black guy with a choco-fro? Double check. Skirts so short you can almost see if the curtains match the rug? Well, you get the picture.

The only upside? I get to move on from this terrible disappointment of a third place finish to present you with second place:

35085

FFVI with five votes. Congratulations to the five who voted for it. I'm fairly certain that your eyes work. There isn't exactly any pictures I know of where Amano drew the entire cast, so you all get to make do with some awesome bead art. That aside, what's not to like? Each character is colourful, simple enough visually that your brain doesn't start hurting trying to figure out what the hell you're looking at, and easily distinguishable from one another. No small feat when every sprite in the game was made from the same base sprite model, and considering the low resolution.

As for the number one pick, you'll have to wait until later for that, though you can probably guess it from what's missing in the rest of the results below:

Favourite Cast Design
VI (5 votes)
VII (3 votes)
VIII (3 Votes)
XIII (3 Votes)
X (2 Votes)
IV
XII
X-2

PS: If you guess Mystic Quest, you'll probably be wrong, but I'll like you more than the people who voted for third place. I'm not even going to mention the single FFX-2 vote though.

[Remon]

I voted for X-2 :monster:

[MJN SEIFER]

I'm really disapointed in the fact that I didn't say anything other than my votes - I'll do better next census.

[TrollHunter]

I voted for X-2 :monster:

Thou shalt never be forgiven.

[Jiro]

X-2 had a lot of costumes though.

[Jessweeee♪]

FFX-2 didn't occur to me, but now I genuinely think that maybe it should have gotten my vote for this category.

[Slothy]

X-2 had a lot of costumes though.

More is not necessarily better. Especially when so many of them are so damn hard on the eyes.

So who did come in first? None other than:

35089

Is it any surprise really? If we're going to talk about strong character design it's hard to top this game. Each character is visually distinct, the designs are simple enough to not look like a cluttered mess, and each even conveys much of their personality simply in how they look dress, and carry themselves. I'm still pretty concerned by Eiko though given that she looks like a pedophiles dream while giving new meaning to the term easy access, but what more would we expect from the land of the rising sun?

So what did you guys have to say for yourselves this time around?


- Favourite overall cast design
FFX-2 - The wide variety of costumes is what makes this game. I have some NPC favourites too. Like Gippal and LeBlanc xD

Bad Remon, no cookie for you!


Favourite overall cast design: VII (Not too big, not too small, something everybody and then some. They were all pretty unique and that group shot of them all standing together is a powerful image.)

I'd normally agree, but I'm not sure how much faith to put in the opinion of anyone who voted Squall for favourite character design. It just calls into question your ability to see. In fact, I'm not sure how you managed to type an entry without being able to see the monitor properly.

So what's next? You'll have to wait and see. But in the meantime, some recent evidence has come to light which explains why Shlup couldn't get an entry in:

35090

You're doing it wrong.

[Jiro]

As much as I love FFIX to pieces, Quina always looks out of place in those group shots. It's not even me disliking him/her, it's just smurfing what even in the hell is s/he meant to be?! Still, I guess that adds more charm, right?

[Slothy]

I think if you consider that it's supposed to be a confusing god knows what, it kind of comes across perfectly visually. When you have someone like Red XIII or Freya it's kind of like, oh a talking dog/rat, what's up with that? But with Quina the characters surprise and the question of what the fuck is that thing really comes through the first time you see it.

[Del Murder]

I'd prefer a giant what-the-hell-is-that to a talking rat any day.

[Jiro]

Wouldn't we all.

Wouldn't we all.

[Slothy]

I have a confession to make guys. This census has been really hard on me. Why is that you may ask? Because being a complete ass for the lulz is not my natural state of being, except when confronted by stupidity. So all of you with the exception of Shlup have made it fairly difficult to keep this up over the course of the entire census. So I think we'll tone it down a bit for today and likely tomorrow since up next we have:

Favourite Non-Boss Enemy

I mean it really is hard to smurf this one up since there are so many great monster designs in this series, and well, you guys actually didn't smurf it up. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the only way to smurf it up would have been to vote for an FFXIII specific monster or variant. And that's not just me trolling FFXIII as I usually do, I mean it. Most of the enemies in that game were pretty poorly designed. But looking at the results I don't see any FFXIII specific names that I recognize so well done folks.

I'm also not going to bother dragging out the reveal of first place this time since this census was already twice the length of the last one and this reveal is dragging on long enough as it is.

So in third place on this one we had a tie between:

Bomb (2 votes)
35101

and Behemoth (2 votes)
35102

What can you say really. Both really embody their names quite well. I mean if the name Bomb wasn't a dead give away I'd still be surprised if that guy didn't blow himself up. And Behemoth, despite some questionable visual interpretations on occasion, is basically the living embodiment of power and rage, and let's be honest here, when we saw this guy for the first game in whatever game we first played, just seeing him scared the crap out of us.

In second place we have:

Cactuar (3 votes)
35103

Again, he looks pretty much like what you would expect from seeing the name. Not to mention being a relatively simple design that not only gets the point (no pun intended) across right away and has become a mascot for the series for a reason. And no, not because he looks ready to slurp his way to the top of the mascot pile if you no what I mean (and seriously, if he offers, say no).

Finally, in first place is:

Tonberry (4 votes)
35104

Another simple, understated design, made slightly creepy by the way he brandishes that knife and inches menacingly towards your party. His cuteness obscuring the very real danger he poses to you and everyone you love. A well deserved first place.

And because I (pretend) to like you guys so much, we'll finish off today with:

Favorite Boss Design

I'm picking a third place finisher to show at random because everyone who wasn't in the top two tied for third. So what will I choose?

Cidolfus Demen Bunansa
35105

Why Cid? Because FFXII doesn't get nearly enough love on this forum and I'm running this show mother smurfers.

And in second with a miniscule 2 votes we have Black Waltz. I'll admit I'm a little disappointed here since it doesn't specify which Black Waltz. But I guess all of us Black Mages must look the same to you people huh? So here's a picture of Black Waltz No. 3:

35106

Racist hicks...

And finally, in first place we have Ultima Weapon with 3 votes. Like a lot of picks in the last category he's gone through a lot of variations over the years, so here's my favourite one, and the one I think is by far the most menacing:

35107

Six smurfing legs and literally exhales badass? Yeah, I had dreams of this guy hunting me down when I was a kid.

Full results below:

Favourite Non-Boss Enemy
Tonberry (4 Votes)
Cactuars (3 votes)
Behemoths (2 votes)
Bomb (2 votes)
Zombie Bulls
Red Dragons
Mandragoras
Flans
Goblins
Long Gui
Red Chocobos
Malboro
Ochu
Mu
Yagudo
Slapper
Magitech Armor

Favourite Boss Design
Ultima/Atma Weapon (3 votes)
Black Waltz (2 votes)
Safer Sephiroth
Garland
God Kefka
Neo Exdeath
The Turks
Emerald Weapon
Ultros
Lich
Evrae
Braska's Final Aeon
Gabranth
Four Fiends
Kekfa
Demon Wall XII variant
Sephiroth
Griever
Chardanook
Barthandelus
Phantom Train
Cidolfus Demen Bunansa

[Bolivar]

Well I certainly wasn't expecting this thing to be a celebration of good taste and love for your fellow posters. C'mon, I wanna see Vivi have to get tranq'ed again, preferably by something I've said (Squall's character design ftw!):tonberry:

[TrollHunter]

Well I certainly wasn't expecting this thing to be a celebration of good taste and love for your fellow posters. C'mon, I wanna see Vivi have to get tranq'ed again, preferably by something I've said (Squall's character design ftw!):tonberry:

Honestly, I just think he was kidnapped.

[Jiro]

I didn't specify which Black Waltz because all of them are great. At least I think I voted for them xD

[Pumpkin]

Black Waltz #2 is obviously superior to the others.

[Slothy]

C'mon, I wanna see Vivi have to get tranq'ed again, preferably by something I've said (Squall's character design ftw!):tonberry:

35108

Squall is the stuff nightmares are made of.

But you did remind me that I completely forgot to quote you losers so everyone can see how broken your brains are.


Favourite non-boss enemy design
Malboro (X)

Am I the only one who hears Malboro and thinks Hentai tentacle rape? :shifty:

Yeah, I think I'm the only one...


Favourite non-boss enemy design: Tonberry!

Excellent choice AngelWings!

What? I actually like her. :kakapo:



Favourite non-boss enemy design - Behemoth
Favourite boss design - Ultima/Atma Weapon

Someone who didn't let me down in both categories? Amazing!


Favourite non-boss enemy design - This was tricky.. I think I'll go with the Behemoths. Even after fighting them all, I just can't remember any. However, the Behemoths (especially FFVI's) look like they mean business.

Favourite boss design - Again, hard.. Think I'll go for Atma weapon. The whole neon blue with gold heads on a huge dogish body just seems badass to me!

Jesus Christ there's two of you?! It must be my smurfing birthday!


Favourite boss design
Final Fantasy XII

I'm not going to say what's wrong here. I'm going to let the rest of you figure it out.


Favourite boss design
The Black Waltz's are terrifying, and a nice demonic look at an already demonic looking race - black mages.

Oh I get it. We're black so we scare you and worship Satan. Well, ok, so the last part might be true.

Maybe the first part as well...

I'm still mad. :mad2:


Favourite boss design
euuhh... i dunno... sephiroth?

Yeah, I'd feel pretty gross voting for him too Shaibana.


Favourite boss design: Griever :D

No cookie for you Fynn. :monster:


Favourite boss design: Bartandelus, FFXIII

Wait, what? How the smurf did I miss this when I was skimming the results? I move that we perma-ban Laddy.

And lastly, because he asked:


Favourite boss design: Gabranth (I would've chosen him for favorite character design but that seemed more appropriate for main characters. I think all the Judges are incredibly well designed, but Gabranth stands out most to me because of being the most classic, the title art for FFXII, and because his symmetry is accented by his weapon. Gabranth's actor also gave an A+ performance; he got a lot of screen time but I wanted to see more. Gabranth is just a great character overall, but especially with his visual design.)

If you want me to quote you and chew you out then you'd better start stopping making sense again.

[Jiro]

I don't hate you because you're black, you're black because I hate you. The glowing eyes are cool though.

[Jessweeee♪]

Barthandelus is a favorite of mine because I really like his reveal. The expressions on the party's faces are priceless. But I like Cid better.

[MJN SEIFER]

I take it the mention of Mu is my vote? I should specify that I'm voting for the FFIX design only. Sorry if I didn't when I PMed, but I did the whole thing in a rush.

[Fynn]

Favourite boss design: Griever :D

No cookie for you Fynn. :monster:



Hey! :mad2:

Screw it. I'll get one myself. :cookie:

[Wolf Kanno]

Okay... apparently Vivi22 wasn't ready yet. He apparently killed and ate his doctor at the hospital and returned to us under false pretense. So I'm going to have to continue on where he left off.

Next up in the countdown is best spell/skill effect. Cause as we all know, FF has always been about doing cool shit, and one of the coolest things to witness with each new installment is how they re-imagine the classic spells, summons and skills we all love and see. This entry turned into a nightmare because no one agreed on anything so for the sake of argument we ended up lumping some together as a general consensus that while some members have different tastes in specifics, they at least can agree that this spell is generally awesome.

Third place is a massive tie of everything else. Basically they all got one vote, some I'll specify the game their for a little better clarity.

Third Place:
Omnislash
Break (FFI)
Flare
Float (FFXII)
Bahamut Zero
Jump
Aura
Devour
Alexander
Thunder
Knights of the Round
Odin (FFXIII)
Bubble
Full Cure
Holy
Quezacotl

Congratulations you only suck slightly less than the spells/skills/summons that weren't mentioned.


Favourite spell/ability effect: Knights of the Round (This is a classic. This will always be one of the things people recall when they think of FFVII, not only because of how over the top it was, but because of how much work you had to put into that game to get it. My favorite summon of all time.)


Yes, we'll all remember it because we can get up and make a sandwich while its being cast.


Favourite spell/ability effect
Bolt/Lightning in any of them. There's nothing like zapping the absolute tit out of something.

Unless you're in the Thunder Plains then the Lightning zaps the shit out of you. I still prefer Bolt over Thunder personally...


Favourite spell/ability effect - Flare. You could never get bored of casting this spell. When you cast it, you just get the feeling of 'Hell yeah. I'm awesome'

Quoted for the truth. :cool:

So in second, we have a three way tie.

First up, we have Cure spell

35122
35123
35124

Which is the unsung hero of the FF franchise. For some fans, this is the only spell they ever see...

Favourite spell/ability effect ~Cure. It's the only one I use on a regular basis.

Next up is fan favorite Time/Black magic spell Meteor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjRoGfDEV10), raining death on enemies since FFIII

35125
35126
35127


Meteor ~ The ultimate spell! I especially like the FFT one, where a HUGE meteor comes crushing down all those below.

and the last is Anima summon from FFX. Or as I usually rename her as "I Win"

35128
35129

Nothing like murdering a badly dressed zombie than by siccing his own Nightmare Fuel infused Mother on him. :D

So what spell could possibly be number one? Bahamut? Leviathan? Raise? Lionheart? Army of One?

...nope, if you guessed Ultima then you are indeed in luck.

35130
35131
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090130220712/finalfantasy/images/f/f1/Ultima-FFVIII.png

It had to be number one, it's in the name...

Next time we'll talk about favorite town/city which will feature a few surprises. ;)

[Madonna]

Cure is pretty neat.

[MJN SEIFER]

I'm actually suprised people voted for "Devour" - I guess people really enjoy looking at a screensaver or something. I personally think Devour would have been better if you could see it, and it wasn't Final Fantasy.

I'm hoping I voted for Ultima here.

[Bolivar]

Haha pretty good 1, 2, and 3 on that one, not really much to complain about. And Wolf's critique of KoTR has me extremely excited for lunch time!!! I might time myself by summoning the Knights to see how fast i can make a sandwich!!!

[Jessweeee♪]

Devour gives you stat boosts! Stat boosts! But FFXII Float is pretty.

[Del Murder]

Having a spell named Ultima pretty much guarantees it to be awesome.

[Carl the Llama]

HEY!!! I didn't just vote for any old Ultima spell, I voted for Kuja's Ultima (which is clearly superior) any other Ultima's are just poor imitations.

[Slothy]

Confession time!

Favourite spell/ability effect - FFVIII Quezacotl summon

That's right folks: I don't hate everything about FFVIII. Just the parts that aren't Quezacotl. I'm kind of surprised WK didn't call me on it to be honest.

But what's that? You want more results? Fine, whatever. Have some stinkin' results.

Favorite Town Design

Starting with third place we had a three way tie between:
Figaro Castle (2 votes)

35136

Giant castle that can travel underground? Lecherous young king who hits on anything with boobs and a pulse (pulse optional)? Yet another monster that reminds me of tentacle rape hiding in the basement? Hell yeah!

Midgard (2 Votes)

35137

Hard to top a giant city with a deathtrap of an upper level that can (and often does) fall at any moment.

Palomporom (2 votes)

35138

...

You people suck.

In second place we had another tie between:

Lindblum (3 Votes)

35139

Ok, so apparently if you want to top a giant smurfing pizza, you do it with a city built into the top of a mountain and filled with airships powered by the souls of the dead. I approve. :kakapo:

Esthar (3 votes wtf?)

35140

That wtf is Wolf's, and I have to agree. The only thing more annoying than looking at this eyesore of a city is trying to find your way around it. Seriously people, see an optometrist. For all our sakes.

And finally, in first place we have:
Bhujerba (4 votes)

35141

I have to say I'm surprised. Not that Bhujerba would get votes, because frankly, just about any city in FFXII was absolutely beautiful to look at, fun to explore, and filled with so many NPC's that they really came alive more than in any FF title in history. I'm surprised because four people on these forums actually voted for FFXII. Congratulations, you managed to not totally cock this one up.


- Favourite town design
Bhujerba FFXII ~ I love sky cities, and Bhujerba is one. The town is huge and has a very nice architecture, exploring this town was a blast. There are also lots of crystals around which add to the beauty.

Keep this up and I might forgive you for voting X-2 for best cast design.


Favourite town design: Esthar

I'm not sure we can be friends anymore.


Favourite town design - FFXIII...oh...wait. In seriousness, I think I'll go for Bhujerba seeing as it makes such an impact when you first see it. (Took a while to find how to spell that goddamn place)

I see what you did there. :D

But at least you did figure out how to spell it. Unlike Shlup who apparently can't spell anything.


Favourite town design
Palumpolum, or however you spell it. I know it's like, the only town in FFXIII, but it was so pretty.

We go through this every census don't we Jessweeee♪? I'm really not even sure what else to say to you anymore.


Favourite town design
Can't pick Zeal huh? Ok then I will pick Figaro because it is a freaking castle that can go underground.

Del Murder is on the trolley.


Favourite town design
XIII :ahahaha: But seriously, I was going to say Narshe because it is built into a mine, but then I thought of the Skycity of Bhujerba which is not only built into a mine, but is smurfing flying man.

Have you been peeking at I Don't Need A Name's joke book?


Favourite town design: Daguerro (Just spent a lot of time here in FFIX, I thought it was one of those really cool obscure areas.)

You know what the sad thing is? My name is Vivi, but it's been so smurfing long since I played FFIX that I don't have a sweet clue what that place looks like anymore. Shame on me.

Full results:
Bhujerba (4 votes)
Esthar (3 votes wtf?)
Lindblum (3 Votes)
Figaro Castle (2 votes)
Midgard (2 Votes)
Palomporom (2 votes)
Dwarf Castle
Burmecia
Gardens
Narshe
Dali
Daguerro
South Figaro
Cosmo Canyon
Rabanastre
Zanarkand
Aht Urgan

Also, for anyone interested NaNoWriMo starts next week. There's a thread about it in the writing forum. If you're worried about checking it out because you think Shlup might be there, don't be. Everyone knows she can't write.

Next time, we'll finish this sucker up proper, so bring your booze, guns, and whatever hard drugs you can find in your parents medicine cabinets. :kakapo:

[Bolivar]

^ Daguerro's kinda all by its lonesome, on top of a plateau, in a cave with a waterfall. It had all these pulleys and levers to complete a sidequest. Was kind of like a giant library, too. Ringing any bells? Ah, screw it...

But damn I really blacked out on this question because we ended up having some good choices. Bhujerba was a good one, although I feel its architecture kinda blended together with all the other towns in FXII... Yay, heavily repeated textures!

Joking!

I seriously can't believe Palumpolum, though. To think any of the towns in FFXIII got a vote is somewhat foreseeable. But for two people to choose one seems as probable as getting abducted by lightning or struck by aliens... I think.

I can't believe we're coming to the last one. I'm gettin kinda teary-eyed!

[Del Murder]

It will be time for the next census by the time this is over.

[MJN SEIFER]

It will be time for the next census by the time this is over. Hopefully I'll do better that time, and actually add something to my choices.

[Slothy]

It will be time for the next census by the time this is over.

That's enough from the peanut gallery thank you very much. :doublecolbert:

[TrollHunter]

It will be time for the next census by the time this is over. Hopefully I'll do better that time, and actually add something to my choices.

I'm hoping the same thing. I put nothing after my votes this time, which is a shame.

[MJN SEIFER]

It will be time for the next census by the time this is over. Hopefully I'll do better that time, and actually add something to my choices.

I'm hoping the same thing. I put nothing after my votes this time, which is a shame. Yeah, and some of my choices were personal ones with meaning (I have a very special reason why I like "Eyes on Me") I ended up rushing my choices as I didn't get around to them until a day before closing - ironically it got extended, but it was too late.

[Madonna]

I forget what I voted, but I have a feeling it was South Figaro. Having been exposed to IV's towns first, I was thrilled with first encountering South Figaro and then working through it in Locke's little story. Actual castles do not count as towns, so screw Figaro Castle.

[Bolivar]

Yeah, and some of my choices were personal ones with meaning (I have a very special reason why I like "Eyes on Me")

You're free to divulge at any time you like!

[Carl the Llama]

I seriously can't believe Palumpolum, though. To think any of the towns in FFXIII got a vote is somewhat foreseeable. But for two people to choose one seems as probable as getting abducted by lightning or struck by aliens... I think.

I can't believe we're coming to the last one. I'm gettin kinda teary-eyed!

Palumpolum was the only city I remembered the name of, and Jess is right, it WAS a very pretty city cmon how can you say you wouldn't want to live in a city that looked like this:

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091023223413/finalfantasy/images/thumb/5/59/Palumporum.jpg/830px-Palumporum.jpg

[Madonna]

Yeah, but it was less thrilling the time you breezed through with a brat on your heels and machine gun hovercycles in tow.

[Wolf Kanno]

The final entry is best cutscene/story scene. Originally this was meant to be just for the FMV sequences but we got so many pre-VII votes it seemed like a shame to throw them out so we allowed them. This entry actually has a 6 way tie for first place. Each of the winners getting two votes which is pretty astounding when you consider the quality the series has put out. So here's the guys who are simply runner ups:

Atmos destroys Lindblum


Favourite cutscene - There are so many from IX to choose from. However, I'll go for the destruction of Lindblum by Atmos. Even though it's short, it made such a huge impact for me, with FF finally showing some real devastation and death within the wars they've depicted.

Dollet Communication Tower

Escaping the Black Waltz #3

Favourite cutscene
Escaping Black Waltz 3 on the airship in FFIX - thrilling sequence, edge of your seat, and with a triumphant outcome.

Sahz looks up Vanille's skirt



Favourite cutscene ~The one in FFXIII where Sahz is looking up Vanille's skirt :p

Yuna's Sending in Kilika

Crashing Yuna's Wedding


Favourite cutscene
The cutscene in X of the party flying into Bevelle. It's damn awesome. The opening scene of X is also pretty good, thanks to the music.

Crisis Core Ending

Entering Eden

VII's intro

Favourite cutscene: VII intro. (This is my favorite because I think it's the best directed. It starts off with space and what you later find out to be the cries of the planet, which fades into one person's face, and from that one face, the camera slowly pulls back to reveal an alley, a street, a block, a district, and an entire amazing city, the likes of which (again) you've never really seen before. The title logo comes up with the killer soundtrack accompanying it, as flashes of a moving train are interspersed. The cutscene closing with a seamless transition into the gameplay is the cherry on top for me.We've debated FFVII's merits and innovations to death, but the seamless transition between cutscene and gameplay is the one original contribution that critics can't deny. It's something that western developers on the cutting edge of high definition gaming today still struggle to achieve. The use of this technique as soon as the game begins made it very clear what kind of experience you were getting yourself into; you're never really sure where a cutscene ends or gameplay begins, because the action is happening across all of it. It was the birth of the cinematic RPG and the advent of the video game set piece. Other games at the time may have told a better story, while others perfected gameplay, but in 1997, Final Fantasy VII showed us where gaming was headed, 10 years and two generations before we really got there. It was a watershed moment and my favorite cutscene in the series.)

Yuna and Tidus' kiss

- Favourite cutscene
Perhaps Yuna and Tidus's kiss? ~ I don't really have a solid idea for a favourite scene though. I chose this one cause of its visual beauty, and semi-awkward japanese song.

Genesis vs Sephiroth

IX's ending

Setzer's Airship Battle


Favourite cutscene - FFVI, Airship fight in FFAnthology...

Kefka betrays Ghestal
[/B]
Favourite cutscene
Yuna and Tidus laughing...naw just kidding. I'll cut anyone who picks that awful scene. For my choice I will go back to FFVI to the scene where Kefka betrays Ghestal and moves the statues to destroy the world. Pretty epic scene and if you didn't bring Celes she also comes to save the party, showing her true loyaly (I guess she does that even if you do bring her).

We're going to do the six winners one at a time to build suspense, so start guessing who the winners are now. :p

[Slothy]

Is this a bad time to point out that you missed favourite overall art direction? Or do I just forget doing it because I woke up 20 minutes ago?

[Bolivar]

This thread and all of its ten pages are already invalidated and rendered pointless because FFVII's intro did not universally win for best custcene.

Good to know I just wasted ALOT of my time.

[Wolf Kanno]

Is this a bad time to point out that you missed favourite overall art direction? Or do I just forget doing it because I woke up 20 minutes ago?

Well then do it quickly man! Its not like I wasn't going to make the last announcements take awhile. ;)

Bolivar: You should have known better, though most of the winners simply won by two votes. Personally I was a bit surprised by some of the winners myself. At least two of them threw me off.

[Del Murder]

The FFVII opening is a universally recognized and epic scene, but is it really a cutscene? To be a cutscene you have to cut away from something and you haven't even started the game at that point!

[Jessweeee♪]

I hate it because the very first time I played it I didn't actually have a memory card so I just played the beginning over and over and it got boring :nonono:

[Madonna]

VII's opening sequence is really great, I admit. In speculation, the fact it is an introduction to the world is what makes it inherently weaker to other cutscenes. There is less emotion to tie you to the Planet, Aeris, and the train in the beginning of the story simply because they are not known to you. Later on, it breaks your heart to see Lindblum get sucked up, it scares you to see Squall get chased by X-ATMO92 (replace Squall with Vivi and X-ATM092 with Black Waltz #3), you get pumped when your crew crashes Yuna's wedding, and all of these votes are understandably due because of the emotional investment you have given the characters already. Granted, Squall is a dick and liberating Dollet is among the first things you do, but pretend you know what I am talking about. VII's intro is epic, the music is fantastic, the visual presentation is superb, but the bond is not quite set.

I expect Cloud's amazing air-leverage skills to be one of the contenders, as well as IV's intro, which paradoxically is awesome. Also, I am totally hoping not seeing my vote show up in the runner-up section means someone else voted the same way and am delighted at the prospect.

[Bolivar]

^ You could be right about that, there definitely needs to be a build up, I guess I just played FFVII enough times where I had tat attachment, but at the same time I feel the scene was more memorable than the atmos attack or crashing the wedding, maybe because of what it did at the time, or the direction. I almost voted for this and I hope it ends up being there:

Final Fantasy VIII - The Landing on Dollet - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_HxjU8TolU)

(and very funny, Del...)

[charliepanayi]

I don't know about that line of thinking, I love FFVIII's opening sequence for instance (mind you, I love most FF intro sequences, cutscene or not).

[Carl the Llama]

I know one of the top answers, simply because its my answer and also not in the runners up list ^^

[Fynn]

Neither is mine :D

[Slothy]

Well then do it quickly man! Its not like I wasn't going to make the last announcements take awhile. ;)

You all heard the man, let's get this tit finished!

Favorite Overall Art Direction

For once you fools managed a distinct top 3. No ties, no fifteen goddamn picks for third place, just three distinct games comprising the best of the best. So how far off the mark are you all?

Third place: VI (4 Votes)
35146

Congratulations on picking the best by far for third. It's as close as you poor saps come to success most times so enjoy the feeling while it lasts. What can I really say about this game. Easily some of the most gorgeous sprite work that ever appeared on the SNES. A game with instantly recognizable characters, beautifully drawn monsters, and a world that you got to experience not once, but twice when you revisit familiar areas post-apocalypse and experience the slow decay of the world through the power of visualization, and in your cases, occasionally malfunctioning eyeballs.

Second Place: VII (5 votes)
35147

It's no FFVI, but it's hard to argue this game suffered from poor visual design. Each place was unique and carried with it it's own character. From the oppressive Midgar, to Cid's broken dreams perfectly embodied by a leaning rocket ever threatening to topple over and crush what little he has left. The fact that it was also done by Nomura in his pre-belt fetish days is also a point in it's favour.


FFVII. I feel like all of the places you go have a distinct feel to them, each with a diverse subculture. From Midgar to Cosmo Canyon to Wutai, each area has its own distinct quality and its own relevance and I liked that.

What this guy said.


Favourite overall art direction: VII (It's the most unique in the series to me. I've never really seen anything like Midgar, I've never really seen anything like Shinra HQ, none of the other airships nail the concept quite the way the Highwind did, and the reactor interiors are just as creepy in portraying an industrial dystopia as the accompanying music is. It also took a lot of archetypes and made them interesting, like the eastern/asian village of Wutai, the mining town of Corel, the vacation spot of Costa Del Sol, and the reservation/ecologist's refuge of the Cosmo Canyon. Like other FFs, VII has you fighting dragons one minute and driving cars the next, but it balances the two with the rest of the art in a way that you don't forget the futuristic aspects like FFI or V, but you don't forget the sword/sorcery tone either like in FFVIII or X. All of this variety and depth makes it my favorite overall art direction.)

Haven't seen anything like Midgar? Didn't play Deus Ex: Human Revolution I take it? Sure it came out recently, but it'd be hard to miss the reference if you did.

And finally in first place we have: IX (8 votes)
35148

Can't really complain here. In fact, many of the reasons I like the art direction in FFVI apply to FFIX as well.


Favourite overall art direction
IX - I think the oldschool theme really worked for this and I don't want to say XIII.

That's good, because if you said XIII I would spend the next year making fun of you every chance I got. Speaking of...


Favourite overall art direction ~FFXIII The characters didn't look overly-ridiculous and when it comes to visuals graphics help.

Someone needs a lesson in the meaning of the term art direction. And not just because you said the characters in a game featuring a Frocobo didn't look overly ridiculous, or even because you voted for FFXIII. Simply because in a discussion of what game has the best art direction, graphical quality isn't really a factor.

Not to mention that in terms of graphical fidelity FFXIII looked more like a launch title than something that is essentially contemporary with the likes of Uncharted 2, or Mass Effect 2.


Favourite overall art direction
FFXIII. In pretty much every area ever I found myself stopping and moving the camera around just so I could admire the architecture or the landscape. The lighting was especially nice.

You know, I found myself stopping a lot in every area too. It was mostly to get a fresh kleenex to sop up the blood that was spewing from my eyes if I spent too much time trying to look at the terrible monster designs, or if I fell asleep while traversing such bland locales as Gran Pulse.

Full results:
Favorite Overall Art Direction
IX (8 votes)
VII (5 votes)
VI (4 Votes)
XIII (3 votes)
VIII ( 2 votes)
XII (2 votes)
I
XIV
Tactics

There, that's it. I'm done with you knobs until next time. Bring it all to a close WK.

PS: I actually have that picture from FFIX on a bass drum head of mine. Sadly I no longer have a bass drum in the right size to use the damn thing.

[Del Murder]

FFVI is my favorite game ever. But in terms of art direction I found many of the towns to be pretty similar looking. Certainly not of the diverse quality of FFVII's areas.

[Slothy]

While most of the towns certainly reused the building sprites to make their houses and shops, I think I'd disagree that they weren't still diverse. Even using the exact same building blocks for the most part, South Figaro with all of it's nooks and crannies to explore felt very different from places like Nikeah, Kohlingen, and certainly much different than areas like Narshe or Zozo. Each place was still injected with it's own personality and sense of charm, despite being forced by the hardware limitations of the day to recycle a lot of graphics. In fact, I can not only immediately recognize these towns when I see them, but I can even picture most of them clearly in my mind even after all of these years.

If anything, I think it impresses me more that they managed the diversity that they did simply by rearranging things in a different layout than the diversity of areas in a game like FFVII do where they were relatively unhindered by the hardware.

[Remon]

No one else voted for Tactics :(

[MJN SEIFER]

Yeah, and some of my choices were personal ones with meaning (I have a very special reason why I like "Eyes on Me")

You're free to divulge at any time you like! I might do here at some point - I am planning an article that will cover that (and other things) but I may uploaded it on it's own one day. Thanks.

[Bolivar]

But FFVI doesn't have art direction! They paid a guy to draw a lot of pictures, and a group of programmers made a bunch of sprites and tiles that look absolutely nothing like any of them.


Haven't seen anything like Midgar? Didn't play Deus Ex: Human Revolution I take it? Sure it came out recently, but it'd be hard to miss the reference if you did.

There's too many good games coming out and their prices drop too fast for me to buy anything not named Battlefield or Call of Duty so close to its release date.


Not to mention that in terms of graphical fidelity FFXIII looked more like a launch title than something that is essentially contemporary with the likes of Uncharted 2, or Mass Effect 2.


Alright, dude, I was as disappointed by FFXIII and its art as much as you were, but seriously!? A launch title? Should we juxtapose Palompolum with ultra-blocky, hyper-grey, and superugly Chimeran mug shots??? Do I really gotta do that? Even then, you list Mass Effect 2 as contemporary? It's Unreal Engine 3!!! Representative of the industry, sure but not making a point of what quality graphics are nowadays. Uncharted 2 is, but c'mon, there's 2, arguably 3 games on consoles that look as good as Uncharted 2. Even, then, I would say FFXIII kept up with it. Not quite the mastery that Naughty Dog has, but seriously, it was a pretty damn good looking game, g.

[Slothy]

Alright, dude, I was as disappointed by FFXIII and its art as much as you were, but seriously!? A launch title? Should we juxtapose Palompolum with ultra-blocky, hyper-grey, and superugly Chimeran mug shots??? Do I really gotta do that?

Perhaps launch title might be a small amount of hyperbole on my part, but there was nothing impressive about it from a technical standpoint. No cool graphical effects, no advanced lighting models. It was essentially an HD PS2 game if you really stop and look at it. It pushed a lot of polygons and that was about it. Games like Uncharted, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War and Mass Effect were being released 2-3 years before it and looking far better, to say nothing of the stuff that came out since.

Are you really going to sit there and tell me FFXIII was anything special when you get to see a bunch of flat textures instead of grass, or the terrible enemy pop-in that is impossible not to notice in Gran Pulse? Should I be impressed by what amount to some half-assed sky boxes that I never get to see or interact with up close?


Even then, you list Mass Effect 2 as contemporary? It's Unreal Engine 3!!! Representative of the industry, sure but not making a point of what quality graphics are nowadays.

Mass Effect 2 was released at the same time (almost to the month) as FFXIII meaning that it is a contemporary of FFXIII. And while the Unreal Engine 3 is starting to get a bit long in the tooth, it's continuously updated by a company that's main business is making and selling that engine to developers, and it still manages to pump out better looking games than FFXIII. Honestly, looking at what the end result was from a tehnical perspective alone, it's pretty pathetic that it took Square as long as it did to make the Crystal Tools engine.


Uncharted 2 is, but c'mon, there's 2, arguably 3 games on consoles that look as good as Uncharted 2. Even, then, I would say FFXIII kept up with it. Not quite the mastery that Naughty Dog has, but seriously, it was a pretty damn good looking game, g.

A game doesn't have to look as good as Uncharted 2 to still look better than XIII. And there are certainly more than 2-3 that did. Honestly, I saw nothing that impressed me on a technical level in XIII. But if it makes you feel any better, XIII was lightyears ahead of anything Bethesda has ever done to date. :p

[Bolivar]

Games like Uncharted, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War and Mass Effect were being released 2-3 years before it and looking far better, to say nothing of the stuff that came out since.

You know what? You're right, son, my bad, Call of Duty 4 is totally better lookign than Final Fantasy XIII.

35150

I know that's the Wii version!

Nah, dude, definitely not. No smurfing way. Never. Mass Effect 2? Definitely not dude. I played the demo of the PS3 version, running on the Mass effect 3 engine, and it's definitely not seeing FFXIII. Not with its lifelessly awkward character models. No way. C'mon, man. Do we need to go back to the thread with the Palompolum picture? C'mon Vivi. We may hate the horribly designed, nonsensical HD blobs that they called "monsters" but we can't deny there were a lot of pixels in them blobs and they were pretty well lit.

I'm 73% sure you played the PS3 version, so there's no excuse that you played it on the weaker platform.

[TrollHunter]

35151 35153

35152 35154

Both games are gorgeous, there is no denying that. Personally I feel that ff13 looks more visually appealing though there is no debate on what the better game is.

[Slothy]

Nah, dude, definitely not. No smurfing way. Never. Mass Effect 2? Definitely not dude. I played the demo of the PS3 version, running on the Mass effect 3 engine, and it's definitely not seeing FFXIII. Not with its lifelessly awkward character models.

Mass Effect titles have awkward character models because Bioware aren't that good at animating, well, much of anything really. They also seem to think it's cool to stand around and awkwardly sway side to side while some talking heads have a chat. That's not a reflection on the technology in the engine though.

I also find it funny when you accuse Mass Effect of having lifeless character models, because outside of cut scenes, the FFXIII character models aren't really anything special, and they certainly don't have any impressive animations going on.


No way. C'mon, man. Do we need to go back to the thread with the Palompolum picture? C'mon Vivi. We may hate the horribly designed, nonsensical HD blobs that they called "monsters" but we can't deny there were a lot of pixels in them blobs and they were pretty well lit.

Yeah, like I said before, FFXIII pushed a lot of polygons, but didn't really do much else. And I'm not even trying to say that from a technical standpoint that FFXIII was terrible, because it wasn't, even if they did occasionally do things like pass off flat textures as grass, bushes and trees (a lot of games still do this, and while it may irk me to no end I don't fault them for it). But here's the thing, FFXIII is continuously touted, even by it's detractors a lot of the time, as one of the best looking games of this generation. But on a technical level, it simply does not hold it's own against heavy hitters like Uncharted, God of War 3, Call of Duty 4, the Gears of War series, Mass Effect, Metal Gear Solid 4, Bioshock, about 20% of Gran Turismo 5 (ha!), and Assassin's Creed 2. I could probably go on as well if I mentioned more than just PS3 games. Stuff like Metro 2033 absolutely takes a dump all over FFXIII, despite some stiff animation and reused character models, and it was the first game from a Ukrainian team developed in half the time Square spent on FFXIII (though the company was founded by people who worked on S.T.A.L.K.E.R., so you know they have some programming talent). While on the subject of PC games, I was actually more impressed by some of the updates Valve made to the Source engine for L4D2 than anything I saw in FFXIII.

Like I said, I'm not saying that FFXIII was terrible from a technical standpoint, but it didn't do anything new or amazing, or even more exceptionally than any of the games I listed. It was pretty average. But then, I'll fully admit I may have a slightly different view of it since some of my best friends actually studied 3D art, animation, and programming when they went to school. Spend enough time talking to people like that about games and playing games with them and it's hard not to see things in a different light, because people really do see things differently when they know what they're looking at, and it's hard for that not to rub off to some extent.


I'm 73% sure you played the PS3 version, so there's no excuse that you played it on the weaker platform.

I don't own a 360, so there, you're now 100% sure I played the "superior" PS3 version.

[Wolf Kanno]

But FFVI doesn't have art direction! They paid a guy to draw a lot of pictures, and a group of programmers made a bunch of sprites and tiles that look absolutely nothing like any of them.

You're attempt at trolling is cute but it seriously lacks bite, a lot of the sprites actually look like their artwork. Locke, Terra, and Celes are probably the only exception, and you missed the fact that Amano drew the designs but it was Nomura who transcribed them into sprite form so if you have any complaints take it up with him.

Besides:
35155
Purple and missing a ton of detail from...

35156
Dark Blue original character design but wait...

35157

It's actually been a Black uniform all these years!!!

The last is a retcon but when you can explain to me why Cloud has such a major change from his rather simple character design to his walking polygon model, I think you'll figure out why VI's sprites don't exactly match up either. :p

[MJN SEIFER]

But FFVI doesn't have art direction! They paid a guy to draw a lot of pictures, and a group of programmers made a bunch of sprites and tiles that look absolutely nothing like any of them.

You're attempt at trolling is cute but it seriously lacks bite, a lot of the sprites actually look like their artwork. Locke, Terra, and Celes are probably the only exception, and you missed the fact that Amano drew the designs but it was Nomura who transcribed them into sprite form so if you have any complaints take it up with him.

Besides:
35155
Purple and missing a ton of detail from...

35156
Dark Blue original character design but wait...

35157

It's actually been a Black uniform all these years!!!

The last is a retcon but when you can explain to me why Cloud has such a major change from his rather simple character design to his walking polygon model, I think you'll figure out why VI's sprites don't exactly match up either. :p

Both pictures one and two look purple to me. Even then the differences between the FFVI game images and art images are far more different to each other than the others (Terra being blonde? Locke wearing a bowler hat?) It seems to be the "sprite" characters that change the most in art (Bartz looks really feminine in one of the arts of him).

[Wolf Kanno]

Those are two very different shades of purple dude, and I really would say the Nomura sketch is actually a dark blue (though it's most likely an accent shading color and his outfit is meant to be black) but I already said Terra, Locke and Celes are different but just about everyone else is a pretty good interpretation. Also Locke is not wearing a bowler hat, its just a more intricate bandana (almost a turban) that covers his whole head where as the sprite has a simple blue one wrapped around his head. As for Bartz looking feminine, that's just Amano's style. If the guy doesn't have facial hair, he's usually very feminine looking. But here's a comparison from sprite, Nomura's chibi transcription, and Amano's original work.

http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35163-eoff-summer-2011-census-terra_branford_small.png vs. http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35164-eoff-summer-2011-census-vi-terra_sd.jpg vs. http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35165-eoff-summer-2011-census-160px-terra_v.jpg





http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35166-eoff-summer-2011-census-edgar_roni_figaro_small.png vs. http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35167-eoff-summer-2011-census-vi-edgar_sd.jpg vs. http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35168-eoff-summer-2011-census-239px-165px-ff6_edgar.jpg


http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35169-eoff-summer-2011-census-cyan_garamonde_small.png vs. http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35170-eoff-summer-2011-census-vi-cyan_sd.jpg vs. http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35171-eoff-summer-2011-census-200px-150px-ff6cyanart.jpg


http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35172-eoff-summer-2011-census-setzer_gabbiani_small.png vs. http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070409212543/finalfantasy/images/1/17/VI-setzer_sd.jpg http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100705154360/finalfantasy/images/thumb/b/b9/Setzer_IV.jpg/279px-Setzer_IV.jpg






I don't think the jump is really that drastic here. Color is off sometimes but we're talking about technology limitations at that point. This isn't like FFV where the Amano art is way off from the sprite art. Detail is lost but one look at Nomura's design of Cloud vs. his sprite and you'll notice a lot is missing as well but the distinguishable characteristics are still there. It's not until FFVIII and the PS2 FFs that we begin to see clear across the board translations of the characters and even that doesn't stop the developers from cheating, like how FFX makes sure that you rarely see Lulu's full character model in cutscenes and CGI sequences, cause the team couldn't be arsed to animate her belt skirt so many times.

[MJN SEIFER]

Yeah the drawings of Edgar and Cyan are pretty good in comparrison to their in game models, and Setzer is pretty close as well. Then again Terra is a little too far. On Bartz maybe it is just Amano's style, so I can accept that if that's the case.

On Cloud, yeah the promotional model, and the CGI model is a darker purple, but I think they're both supposed to be purple (then again maybe I just want it that way because to me purple = cool) sometimes the in game model has more detail as well (like when you arrive at Shinra Tower and you can see his sword attached to his back).

[Jiro]

Terra's amano hair looks more yellow than blonde imo. It has this weird greeny-yellow tinge to it.

[Wolf Kanno]

Diversion's aside, it is time to do the countdown.

The first winner of favorite cutscene is a bit of an odd one, and likely to send Vivi22 into a murderous rage and be praised and exalted by Serapy and Future Esthar. Some people love their FF endings but some people can't handle just a sappy "everything's okay" yet on the other hand, a lot of fans like an ending that doesn't end with you scratching your head and asking yourself out loud "Was that it?". Our first top winner does both. Starting off with a mind-numbing, what the smurf, acid trip that would make Hunter S. Thompson proud, and then follows up with a wonderful collage of images showing that everything is all right and the boy gets the girl and even though the story up to this point paints the future as a chaotic political vacuum of suffering, that easy going pop song and bright colors tells the player it's going to be okay. I'm of course referring to the ending of FFVIII, Whether you believe the mind trip opening is some elaborate and off-kilter affirmation that Squall is dead or Rinoa is Ultimecia; or you can be like the rest of us and just accept it as Squall getting his mind blown by the best kind of drug Time Compression can bring, by which I mean a free one. Some people just buy some acid and have a wild night, Squall travels the smurfing globe and fights witches in space, and then fights them in the future to get his drug kick. ;)

Then ending then jumps into Eyes On Me and shows us that Laguna finally made it home to Winhill with Ellone, Seifer is kicking back and fishing with his homies, flowers are blooming, everyone throws a party, Cid gets his smoking hot, "grave robbing" wife, Zell finally gets to ea the lunchroom special, and he gets a librarian girlfriend, but more importantly he got that special. Selphie gets Irvine and a lifetime of kicking him out and forgiving him for all his infidelity, and Rinoa finally gets Squall (or his hologram if that's what you feel) and Squall even gets to smile!

http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35181-eoff-summer-2011-census-53117adf-2fdf-4fc4-b865-ce398f090ec8.jpg

Here's a link to the full ending (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK6zp3ospF0) for those who want to see our first top winner in action!

That's the first of six, did we name your name your top favorite? Tell us how you feel about this revelation and continue to speculate on the other top choices. :cool:

[Madonna]

You fail me, common people; they said your sense was to be cherished the most, yet you bring me this.

[charliepanayi]

The sound of FFVIII haters gnashing their teeth in rage sounds so sweet :)

[MJN SEIFER]

The sound of FFVIII haters gnashing their teeth in rage sounds so sweet :) I love the ending to FFVIII and yes, I think it's an "everything's okay" ending. To be honest I can't think of any FF ending that wasn't "everything's okay" even the bad endings in FFV turn out good in the end.

[Jessweeee♪]

I voted the acid trip.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s106/DaHaloChick/Blog%20Photos/squallface.jpg

[ReloadPsi]

Felt like answering regardless for the sake of generating additional arguments.

First Part
- First FF Played: VII (look I live in England OK?)
- Latest FF Played for the first time: XIII (hated it)
- Country of Origin: - England
- FF you've spent the most time playing in total: Most likely VII or VIII but I've no way to be sure
- Age: 26
- Gender: Male

Music:
Favourite character theme: Setzer from VI
Favourite normal battle theme: IX
Favourite overworld theme: IX
Favourite boss theme: VII (in fact it's my favourite tune of all time, period.)
Favourite final boss theme: Zeromus!
Favourite overall track: Sarani Tatakau Monotachi (FF7's boss theme. People fight over the correct translation so I stick with its Japanese name, which IS its correct translation. You don't translate names you dumb vagina!)
Favourite soundtrack: Probably VI

Visuals:
Favourite character design: Very partial to FF8's Sorceresses. They're the one time when I think characters being totally overdressed is entirely justified.
Favourite overall cast design: FF6's sprites. Love them.
Favourite non-boss enemy design: The spiders in FF5 because I'm arachnophobic and giant spiders in video games give me a little rush.
Favourite boss design: Emerald Weapon from FF7.
Favourite spell/ability effect: It's a tie between Haste and Regen. Don't make me pick one.
Favourite town design: Lindblum.
Favourite overall art direction: FF9.
Favourite cutscene: In FF9 when they bust into South Gate. Probably. Everyone just appears to be "on form" in that cutscene and it's pretty cool to see considering how Dagger and Vivi were showing confidence issues earlier on.

[MJN SEIFER]

Was FFVII the most promoted in England or something? I was first with VII as well, but I vaguely knew of FF's existance because I remember kids talking about playing FF games like FFIV when I was younger. Yeah, we didn't have the FF2/FFIV thing. Probably the only time England was better than America.

[Bolivar]

Was FFVII the most promoted in England or something? I was first with VII as well, but I vaguely knew of FF's existance because I remember kids talking about playing FF games like FFIV when I was younger. Yeah, we didn't have the FF2/FFIV thing. Probably the only time England was better than America.

If I recall correctly the Final Fantasy series debuted in Europe with FFVII. You might be thinking of them playing FFIV on the Final Fantasy Chronicles release that came afterwards, where it was properly numbered, I believe.

But England is definitely better than America because you guys can enjoy Xenoblade Chronicles while the rest of us are deprived :(

[MJN SEIFER]

If I recall correctly the Final Fantasy series debuted in Europe with FFVII. You might be thinking of them playing FFIV on the Final Fantasy Chronicles release that came afterwards, where it was properly numbered, I believe.

But England is definitely better than America because you guys can enjoy Xenoblade Chronicles while the rest of us are deprived :( No, I was about six or something when I first remember hearing of the FF series, I'm 24 now.

I have heard stuff before about FFVII to be the only FF released in the UK, but I know that to be untrue. The only explanation is that it may have been imported, but I remember classic FFs existing in the UK close to Japanese release.

[Jessweeee♪]

I first heard of Final Fantasy when my uncle bought FFVII and FFVIII together. It wasn't until about the same time as FFX-2's release that I met someone else who liked the series. So I don't think it's just a European thing xD

[Wolf Kanno]

So it is time for part two of our six part finale on the favorite cutscene vote of the census. We have another entry that is sure to enrage Vivi22 and other people off put by the first winner, mostly because this is another cutscene from FFVIII and easily one of the most recognizable and memorable from the game. The scene would later be used for the PS2 tech demo.

I'm of course speaking of Rinoa and Squall's waltz, or "the closest experience to prom that some of ever had" Its the magical moment where Squall and Rinoa first meet each other, and it it both hilarious to watch Squall struggle to dance with his two left feet, one of the best examples of the games main theme, and its a technical wonder to behold.

Here's the scene for all to enjoy. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IjDGts8Ha8):cool:

http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35201-eoff-summer-2011-census-dance.jpg

35202


http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz28/xAshbellax/Final Fantasy VIII/rinoa_kiss.gif

[Madonna]

We shall be slitting our wrists today.

[Bolivar]

I preferred FFII and FFV's ball room dance scenes immensely.

[Slothy]

How much does anyone want to bet that results like this are why my graphics card died? If I had to render this shit I'd probably want to up and die too.

[Bolivar]

If the next four parts keep going this way we might want to avoid this thread entirely.

[Wolf Kanno]

FFVIII has had its run, the next four are all from different FFs. I will narrow this down for you. There are no entries from the modern console era so no FFXIII.

Personally, I don't mind the Waltz scene being rewarded. It was an iconic scene in the game, and was one that Square was pretty proud of when they were first showing off FFVIII. The Ending caught me off guard though, I honestly never cared for VIII's ending, but then again, I don't like most of the endings to the series.

[Slothy]

Jesswee's post at the top of the page is actually the only thing I like about VIII's ending. Sure it eats at my soul, but I wasn't using it anyway.

[Bolivar]

LOL I used to think that picture was pretty horrific.

I'm not terribly offended by the dance scene, either, and I agree with Wolf's comments on its iconic status. But I'm glad we're getting more variety from here on out, and honestly, there's some ridiculously epic cutscenes in the FF series, I know we can do better than FFVIII's ending and dance scene here, hell, I posted a better one from FFVIII.

[Wolf Kanno]

Well its time for our next entry in the Census and no, it's not another cutscene from VIII. Remember how I told you we got some entries from the pre-FMV era of FF games? Well this was one of them and I was personally surprised it actually got enough votes to be a part of the top spots. Even more amazing, is that it is from a game that is not often touted for excellent story or memorable scenes, characters yes, but not story sequences. Yet this entry beat all the odds and was the reason we decided to allow Pre-FMV sequences into the fold.

One of the things FF is known for, are their epic death scenes of awesome characters. While knocking off characters began with FFII, it really didn't get that cinematic flair until FFIV's Meteo Scene with Tellah. Yet, easily one of the most overlooked death scenes in the series has always been that of the character of Galuf from FFV. Encased in ExDeath's evil power, Galuf absorbs it and uses it to power himself up to battle Exdeath one-on-one for a climatic face off as one of the last remaining Dawn Warriors. This scene is also unique from all the other entries in that its still treated as an actual boss fight, if a bit scripted, since the old man can't actually die unless he uses Self-Destruct. Galuf's death is saw the lost of on of the coolest members of the V team, and unlike most heroic deaths in the series, Galuf was at least kind enough to give his MAD SKILLZ to his granddaughter Krile so you're party can still kick some ass.

Here's the scene in question for those who want to experience it again. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-pAMCwleLA&feature=related)

http://lparchive.org/Final-Fantasy-V-Advance/Update%2037/76-16kz9nc.png

Here's a cool fanart pic. (http://obstinatemelon.deviantart.com/art/Why-won-t-you-die-169764505)

So our third winner is Galuf's Last Stand

So far:
FFVIII Ending
Rinoa and Squall's Waltz
Galuf's Last Stand

Only three more from three different FFs. ;)

[Jessweeee♪]

I think that is probably my favorite pre-FFVII scene.

[TrollHunter]

Ahh great scene. How did I forget about it!?

[Wolf Kanno]

Well... of the last three, one is kind of a surprise, so I'm leaving that one for last. The other two are pretty damn obvious if you know your FF lore, what two scenes from FF lore will fans never shut up about, have in time become overrated, are still incredibly loved and defended by their fans, and both sets of fans use as fodder in the eternal debate of which is better? FFVI or FFVII? I'm of course referring to the iconic series staples of FFVI's Opera Scene and FFVII's Aerith's death.

Here's some nice pictures for the kiddies:

3521935220
35221 http://www.snes-fr.net/images/dossiers/final_fantasy_6/Pas%20besoin%20de%20presenter%20l%20Opera.gif

35222 35223

35224 35225

Here's the full scenes in question for those who want to re-experience the magic.

Opera Scene (16-bit) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA5bsEKg3rU&feature=related)

Some CGI Opera (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGpIWD39Ngw)

Aerith's Death (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx3duFYCcho)

Some of Aerith's Death AC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYI387-fpaY)

The really amusing thing about all this is how similar Aria di Mezzo Carattere and Aerith's Theme are too each other.

Aerith's Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIqKWLkm2-g)

Aria di Mezzo Carattere (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltoc0XD5waI)

and for fun...

Aria di Mezzo Caratere ~ SQ CHILL MIX by Q;indivi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fciCbwkanN8)

Pure Heart ~ Aerith's Theme Vocal Remix by Rikki (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAW0ZakIt14)

So now that the two most obvious entries are out of the way... it's time to guess which one it is. If you've followed my clues, you should have it down to one game but the question is now which scene? ;)

[Madonna]

Tell us. You need to tell a guy.

[The Man]

Knowing how much this forum loves FFIX I would expect it to be the You're Not Alone sequence but you said it wasn't obvious so I'm guessing not. I will be extremely surprised if it is not from FFIX though.

[Bolivar]

I think the couple notes that are similar in the opera scene and aeris' theme are also in FFV's world theme when you get to Galuf's "planet."

Surprised to hear Wolf admit to the opera scene being overrated. I actually don't think it is. When that dude came out and opened his mouth and opera singing came out (the best it could from the chip) my jaw literally dropped. I think that's probably one of the best moments in gaming.

But then FFVII is a game chock full of the best moments in gaming. That's why Aeris' (yes with an s!) death just wasn't that hard hitting for me. Unfortunately, it was everywhere, everyone was talking about it, and I knew about it long before I got started on the game. I even saw a few pictures of it from this walkthrough in a magazine. When I saw it, I think it was pretty powerful because it was like "damn, this is it, wow..." but I probably mostly felt like I had to get it over with so I could get back to this game that was doing something different all the time. I don't know if I could pick a favorite scene from FFVII, which is why I went with the intro, because it had the biggest impact on an impressionable young mind right from the start (so I totally disagree with the prior post saying you need to care about the story before a cutscene can be your favorite).

[MJN SEIFER]

I always loved both Aeris's death and the opera scene to be really emotional (as is FFVIII's ending to some extent). I love how the music sounds similar in the opera and Aeris's death. I saw some really hateful comments about that in YouTube - which kind of threw me...

[Slothy]

You know, regardless of whether you think the opera scene is kind of overrated or not, that orchestra is really given 'er, and that's pretty damn cool.

As for Aeris's death, I bought the Bradygames strategy guide when I finally bought FFVII. You can imagine how shocked I wasn't when I reached that scene. That's one thing that's always pissed me off a bit about my first time through the game. I already knew Aeris was going to die, so there wasn't really any emotional impact for me when I actually saw it.

I feel kind of like I've been slacking a bit on the insults front because of that decent stretch where my computer wasn't working, so here we go:

Isn't it nice how Cloud just let's Aeris's body sink into the water. Of course she'll just bloat and pop back up as decomposition releases all kinds of gases inside her body, so it's probably the least respectful thing he could do with her corpse, but still, it's kind of touching ain't it?

I'll be sure to come back tomorrow with more, including quotes from you poor fools who voted for the desecration of Aeris's meatsack as best cut scene.

[Bolivar]

Isn't it nice how Cloud just let's Aeris's body sink into the water. Of course she'll just bloat and pop back up as decomposition releases all kinds of gases inside her body, so it's probably the least respectful thing he could do with her corpse, but still, it's kind of touching ain't it?

NO because of the composition of the water with its lifestream concentration so close to the city of the ancients, Aeris will rest peacefully at the bottom of the lake where she can quickly return to the planet in a loving and emotional way HOW DARE YOU DESECRATE THE MEANING OF THIS SCENE YOU MONSTERRR!!!!

But yeah, for someone who loves FFVII so much I can't imagine the feeling of people who were "blown away" by her death at the time, forever cursed to be FFVII zombies. Even though it is my favorite game ;)

[Wolf Kanno]

You make one little joke so you don't look bias and everyone takes you so seriously. In truth, I actually love both scenes and I don't think either is overrated. I was just trying to cut off the fanboys on both sides by telling them they are both full of shit. :p It is also the reason why I did both of them at the same time.

I mean seriously, how often have I mentioned on this forum that the Opera scene in VI changed the way I viewed gaming forever and cemented my love of the RPG genre? How often have I mentioned that despite having her death spoiled for me, I still felt the complete direction of Aerith's death was well executed and still emotional despite the shock value not being there? I mean VII ends for me at Aerith's death cause nothing else in the later discs ever impressed me as much as that scene.

As for Aerith and the Opera Aria sounding like Another World ~ Galuf's World, I don't think so, of anything, I think its closer to FFVII's Main Theme personally if we were judging what it sounded like it was sampled from.

Still one more up, The Man has guessed part of it, but can you guess what the grand finale will be?

[MJN SEIFER]

I don't find Aeris's death overated, it was the first time I ever saw a video game portray emotion, and I really liked the character. She was in my team a lot so I really got to know her as a character. I had no idea she was going to die, because my walkthrough didn't spoil it (even though ones I later got did) - it just stopped mentioning her. In hindsight I probably should have seen it, it just didn't strike me that they had stopped mentioning her.

[Bolivar]

As for Aerith and the Opera Aria sounding like Another World ~ Galuf's World, I don't think so, of anything, I think its closer to FFVII's Main Theme personally if we were judging what it sounded like it was sampled from.



Doh, you're right that's what I was thinking of. Also, the scene after the ball room dance, where Quistis has Squall take her to the make out place in the training center, a part of the song that plays while they're talking is very similar to one of the two we're talking about here, either world themes or celes/aeris... can't remember!

[Del Murder]

Was FFIX's ending listed yet? That would be my guess mostly because it is my favorite FF ending.

[Wolf Kanno]

As for Aerith and the Opera Aria sounding like Another World ~ Galuf's World, I don't think so, of anything, I think its closer to FFVII's Main Theme personally if we were judging what it sounded like it was sampled from.



Doh, you're right that's what I was thinking of. Also, the scene after the ball room dance, where Quistis has Squall take her to the make out place in the training center, a part of the song that plays while they're talking is very similar to one of the two we're talking about here, either world themes or celes/aeris... can't remember!

Tell Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXF0paveuAA&feature=related)?

I'm not hearing it, I just here how its a leitmotif of the other track Ami (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWhlSbqRkSQ) that plays.

[Bolivar]

As for Aerith and the Opera Aria sounding like Another World ~ Galuf's World, I don't think so, of anything, I think its closer to FFVII's Main Theme personally if we were judging what it sounded like it was sampled from.



Doh, you're right that's what I was thinking of. Also, the scene after the ball room dance, where Quistis has Squall take her to the make out place in the training center, a part of the song that plays while they're talking is very similar to one of the two we're talking about here, either world themes or celes/aeris... can't remember!

Tell Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXF0paveuAA&feature=related)?

I'm not hearing it, I just here how its a leitmotif of the other track Ami (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWhlSbqRkSQ) that plays.

At 1:19, for some reason I've always thought it sounds similar to 0:19 here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CK2hx377iU). It's actually a lot smaller than I thought it was.

[Del Murder]

We should play Final Fantasy Name that Tune.

[Bolivar]

lol i'd probably have a nervous breakdown worrying about the minutiae

[Wolf Kanno]

Okay, I can hear it now. You're right, I think he did sample a bit.

[Wolf Kanno]

Alright, its time to end this. So we finally reached the end. If you followed my clues you should know the final entry is from FFIX. It is technically a set of three cutscenes but they all go together as a story and the way people phrased it, I wasn't going to argue. It's a pretty bitchin scene too.

Anyone who has played through IX and at least got to Lindblum will remember this awesome sequence. You've been battling the crazy Black Waltz enemies and now the big one has shown up. Vivi is reeling from an existential crisis and Zidane is trying to outrun the Waltz and get the princess to Lindblum like it was planned. All this adds up to the best 10 minutes in the whole series. I'm of course talking about the encounter with Black Waltz #3. It's emotional, heart-wrenching, exciting, and suspenseful.

Just see for yourself. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqMkKZj1OO0)

Not to mention some cool images.

http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35265-eoff-summer-2011-census-wall_ix_35.jpg

http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35270-eoff-summer-2011-census-42blackwaltz3_fanartv2.jpg

http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35266-eoff-summer-2011-census-vivi4.png

http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35267-eoff-summer-2011-census-tumblr_lqour6c8a31qcs928o3_250.png

http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35268-eoff-summer-2011-census-vivi.jpg

http://forums.eyesonff.com/attachments/general-final-fantasy/35269-eoff-summer-2011-census-00051.jpg

While the Black Waltz #3 event is not my favorite cutscene in IX (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GemT2kn1TC0), its a pretty close second in terms of awesomeness for me. I mean it features the greatest character in the series in a pure moment of badass, and the whole scenario is just intense from beginning to end. It has an awesome fight scene, and the Black Waltz enemies are still fan favorites despite mostly being wiped out 5 hours in. That is just how cool they are. :cool:

So now you have all the entrants. Did it turn out like you expected? Thoughts? Comments? Criticism?

[Jiro]

YES. That is a deserving winner. That scene/those scenes have everything in them. The action! The drama! The suspense! The Black Waltz is one psychopathic sinister bastard but it really comes together beautifully. :D

[charliepanayi]

That is a brilliant scene, really gripping. And it's a real 'woo hoo' moment at the end.

[Bolivar]

Totally happy this was the winner for the last category. Pretty much everything of why we play FF. Looking at it again, I just don't understand why Square doesn't try to render a game that looks like THAT in real time.

[TrollHunter]

Such a deserving winner. I loved that scene so much.