Final Fantasy Census!!! Final RESULTS!!!

[Wolf Kanno]

Cause I'm curious. So after an amusing thread about a funny survey done about FF titles and genders, I decided to hold my own to figure out what FF's people like and what qualities they are attracted to so I amd give the good people of EoFF a pseudo-scientific explanation with some flimsy and poorly managed data to back it up.

Here's how this is going to work.

Send me a MM detailing your top three favorite FFs. Then with each title you must rank from your favorite part to your least (just use numbers) of which aspects of the game you like the most (1) to least (4). The four aspects to rank are as follows:

Story/Characters
Combat system
Exploration/Sidequests
Music/Graphics


After that state your gender and age range (13 and under, 14-18, 19-21, 21-25, 25+) I don't need specific details about age so please use the range.

Here is an example of what I am looking for and expecting:

Example

Favorite FF #1- FFI
Story/Characters - 4
Combat system - 2
Exploration/Side-quests - 1
Music/Graphics -3

Favorite FF #2 -FFII
Story/Characters - 1
Combat system - 4
Exploration/Side-quests - 3
Music/Graphics - 2

Favorite FF #3 - FFIII
Story/Characters - 2
Combat system - 1
Exploration/Side-quests - 3
Music/Graphics - 4

Gender: M

Age Range: 13 and Under

End Example

Use this format, feel free to copy and paste and just delete the example answer. I'll accept Mognet Messages until I either get too many to sort through or until two weeks time from today unless I decide to extend it on a whim.

The rest of this thread can discuss speculation on what the results will be. Remember this will be about gender and age as well as what aspects draw people in the most. If you have any questions, feel free to bring them up in this thread.

EDITGA: Title the Mognet Message as Census. Thank You!

[Slothy]

Well that was a little tougher than I expected. My 2nd and 3rd choices could easily switch places sometimes, and some of the categories for each were close enough to be really tough calls on which I preferred.

As for my predictions; I'm hoping FFVI gets the love it deserves and I have the feeling FFVIII will be rated too highly by both sexes.

And for a more specific prediction, I don't think FFIX will be in Kyros picks if he responds.

[VeloZer0]

FFT, yes/no?

[Wolf Kanno]

Yes I will allow spin-offs and sequels for the series, I originally didn't intend to but after thinking about it for awhile, I figured it was perfectly fine to choose them as well.

[Vermachtnis]

It was kind of hard picking my third game. Characters and music are my favorite parts of the game. So it was really hard picking which one I liked more, especially in my first two choices.

And I messed up my first message. Sorry.

[Depression Moon]

This is a hard one for me. There's really no FF besides IX that I feel like i have to play once every year or two years. None of the others come close to giving me the same enjoyment as IX did.

[Wolf Kanno]

I said three entries cause I know most would have a hard time choosing a favorite and I wanted to give a bit of leeway so we could have multiple choices, I also figured that I might be able to see a correlation by the top choices to really grasp what people find appealing about the series.

[VeloZer0]

Now that I actually have my response in I'm going to pick apart your survey with all the things I would have wanted it to be

You have Story/Characters grouped into one category, I think they should be two for sure. Take FFV for example. I though the characters were extremely 'bleh' and uninspired. I, however, just loved the story. In FFIX I didn't like any of the characters in the game, but I once again though the story was very interesting and I enjoy playing the game for that reason alone.

...


eh, I had more, but as I typed they seemed half baked and stuff that matters to me probably more than anyone else. First one still stands.

[Wolf Kanno]

I originally intended to separate them but decided that story and characters are really not so far from each other, its still the "writing" aspect of the game so separating them seemed a bit silly to me since in most cases, people feel both are interchangeable at times for making the other good.

Its the same reason why I lumped other aspects together cause technically from a generalized view they are hardly far from each other. Audio and visuals for instance are sense experience aspects of the game so I felt it was better to group them together, it will also keep graphics from always being the least liked for 99% of the entries.

The only thing I actually separated was gameplay cause technically I feel that Exploration, side-quests, mini-games, combat, and customization is all part of gameplay but I felt the thing needed a bit more options otherwise I could expect everyone to rank Story 1, Gameplay 2, Graphics 3 for all entries. I felt side-quests and exploration were related and significantly different from combat/customization to warrant it a separate entry.

I also wanted to keep this somewhat simple cause I was unsure of how much participation I was going to expect and felt I didn't need to complicate crap too much cause I'm terrible at organization.

In the future, I if I get bored enough to do this again, I will make sure to first create a survey to find out what people want to be on the future Census survey.

[VeloZer0]

and felt I didn't need to complicate crap too much cause I'm terrible at organization.

Drop me a line if you need help collating any of the results. This is the kind of thing I find really interesting.

... I will make sure to first create a survey to find out what people want to be on the future Census survey.

It never ends

Its the same reason why I lumped other aspects together cause technically from a generalized view they are hardly far from each other. Audio and visuals for instance are sense experience aspects of the game so I felt it was better to group them together, it will also keep graphics from always being the least liked for 99% of the entries.

Thinking about it, it might be more true to what you want labeled "Presentation (Graphics/Music)" I know it isn't what you intended, but when I see the word 'graphics' I immediately think in terms of level of technical advancement. Whereas you are (presumable) more interested in things like art style.

I felt side-quests and exploration were related and significantly different from combat/customization to warrant it a separate entry.

Absolutely. I even felt side-quests and exploration didn't really go together in my head. But when thinking about it further as I was typing up the last post the definition of 'side quest' has changed markedly as the series has progressed. In the early games side-quest meant finding some hidden dungeon, whereas in the newer titles it means mini-game.

EDIT: Do you want other people to throw the census in their sigs to get the attention of those who only seem to hang out at the 'upper forums'?

[Wolf Kanno]

That would be nice to have a little more advertising. I may make an announcement as well. I've been getting decent results and I wasn't really sure how much I was initially going to expect.

As I said earlier, I may draw it out a little while longer than two weeks, I may give it a month and part of me was also thinking about prolonging it enough to make the data available during the Ciddies. Its been a real interesting social experiment to say the least and if I run into problems I'll be sure to ask for your help.

[RedPouch]

I'd like to fill this out, but I need some time to think about it. I'll send you a message once I do.

[Wolf Kanno]

Take your time. Its not a race and I figure some people will have to think about this one. I'm debating about putting my own data in as well but may forgo it.

[Fynn]

I submitted one as well! I found it really tricky to choose the things I liked the least about the games, because I pretty much loved everything about them.

[Loony BoB]

21-25, 25+

Do you mean 21-25 and 26+?