Census Results - Get your slack asses in here.

[Slothy]

Well, fair enough. There wasn't really a need for an essay Mister Co-Host but you never were one for taking the short and simple road, were you?

No.

Anyway, I'm going to get a category or two out of the way now since I'll be busy for the next few hours. Why will I be busy? Because the goddamn Batman is infinitely more interesting that you folks and doesn't give stupid answers in an FF census. The Batman doesn't let me down unlike you popsicle heads. Speaking of letting me down:

Best character (gameplay)

So bringing up the rear we've got the single votes:
Mog (VI)
Gau
Zack Fair
Vivi Orunitia
Kain Highwind
Cloud Strife
Vincent Valentine
General Leo Christophe
Red XIII
Zell Dincht
Eiko Carol
Cid Highwind
Adelbert Steiner

There's some good stuff here. Vivi obviously is awesome being the only black mage in FFIX. Steiner and Eiko are also quite useful through much of the game. General Leo is clearly OP and I expect a nerf in the next patch. Kain's Jump is always good, Gau is more useful than he looks, especially in low level play throughs, Zack is the only playable character in his own game, and while they may all be clones for the most part, at least that means Cid, Cloud, Vincent and Red XIII aren't useless.

But then we have a couple of weird ones. Mog? I love moogles as much as the next guy and Mog is king moogle, but his one special ability is uncontrollable, and by extension, unreliable in battle. At least Gau has that one specific instance where he becomes the single most useful guy in the game. What does Mog have? He dances. Fun to watch, a detriment in battle. I'd say the only guy more useless is Umaro, but I'm not even sure that's true. At least when he's being uncontrollable, he's also quite predictable.

And we've also got Zell in there. Who the hell voted for him?

Best character (gameplay): Zell

No explanation BoB? I see not even you can justify an answer so bad.

Next, it's a three way tie for second place with two votes each:
Sabin Rene Figaro
Squall Leonhart
Auron

Ok, so Auron I get, he's your pretty much standard tanking damage dealer for much of FFX. That's always a help rather than a hindrance. Squall can be justified as having the best limit breaks in FFVIII, but I'd disqualify him if I could because being the most useful character in FFVIII is like being the monkey that got hit by the least trout in a trout flinging contest.

Now Sabin is good, but his brother has attacks which are just as effective, hit all the enemies on screen earlier, and don't require button presses that make some of those nancy's who've never even heard of Street Fighter cry. So I suppose we'll probably see him in first place.

First Place:
Terra Branford

Huh? I kind of get it since she uses magic, but magic is limited, and a few hours into the game everyone has it. Oh that's right, she got another ability later on, I guess it must have been the most useful ability in the world. What was that again? Oh yeah, something called Morph. So what? she transformed into a Power Ranger and kicked a lot of ass in the Megazord did she?

When Terra trances, she transforms into an esper, the damage she deals is doubled, and the magic damage she takes is halved, but this does not work with defense-ignoring attacks.

Ok, well I guess that's not too bad. More damage dealt, less taken against spells. I mean, it's not entirely necessary because the battles in the game are incredibly easy anyway, and equipment can easily negate a lot of nasty stuff, but still, it's handy I suppose. But why wouldn't you just use this all the time? Why use her normal form at all?

Terra can only stay as an esper for a limited amount of time. Her ATB gauge slowly decreases as she is an esper, and when it empties, she turns back into a human. The length of time Terra can stay tranced depends on the amount of magic AP she has gained after battle. If she has not gained enough, she cannot trance.

So her one ability that makes her even marginally unique is entirely unnecessary because her magic is powerful enough anyway, and you can't use it all of the time? And she's the best character in the game gameplay wise? Over Edgar, the actual best character in the game?

Who wants a smack upside the head?

Best character (gameplay): Terra. She can do everything!

She can't use Tools (there's a misogynistic joke in there somewhere). Also, you're off the census committee.

Best character (gameplay): Terra. High magic power + Morph.

Which is entirely superfluous. You can join Velo in the unemployment line.

Oh god, even Wolf has turned against us? Ugh, fine, I'll at least let you make your case.

Best character (gameplay) - Terra, Great magic, can naturally learn Ultima, can equip the best weapons and armor in the game, and can be broken several different ways with different equipment set-ups. She's just a badass. She's also just fun to use the Esper system on and her unique equipment pool gives her plenty of options.

Well, I'll at least grant that you can break the game with her and she has equipment options. So you can stay. Though I find the idea of breaking a game that's already taken more of a beating than Batman's spine humourous and excessive.

Before I go watch Batman though, Edgar must have gotten some votes. Are you sure you counted correctly WK? Here, I'll post my response:

Best character (gameplay)
I'll go with Sabin for Blitz. Again, I really liked that system, and enjoyed using it more than most special abilities in most of the FF's. Most other characters don't require more than making menu selections, or don't differentiate enough to be that interesting on their own.

...

smurf it, I'm going to watch Batman.