GameFAQs Contests
Character Battle VIII Contest Analysis Crew
I almost went to high 70s but figured I'd hedge my bets a bit, assuming I'd have the high percentage anyway. Go Cube. --- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love! |
Strange thing is that we all have Cube in the mid-60s and yet no one's surprised it's going 80% on Sandal. Oh well. --- "The great GF...Bahamut." "...GF? I...? Using my powers...It is you humans...I fear..." |
We all pretty much said that we had no idea what to guess as far as percentages. --- If you're seeing this sig, I'm not on my computer! |
Well, Cube just got a 73% update there, so if it keeps that up, our predictions will look a little better. --- "But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be...outside." "I am lightning...the rain transformed." |
Mid 60s speak for yourself. --- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love! |
yeah, it's a given this will end up closer. --- xyzzy |
And
since that 73% update, Cube managed to go up about 2% through the rest
of the Power Hour. I doubt the Cube falls below 77% here. --- Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~ Popular at school, but not as cool as KrahenProphet, Guru Champ! |
haha shadow consensus i laff at that and to be fair you guys can laff at my magus pick laff --- GranTurisMo - God's Tiniest Man - Great Thorn Monkeys! Member of the merSHINEsess Nation since 7/15/09 |
Are all the guest analysis spots taken for this round? |
Bah, fell asleep before sending Moltar the E-Mail, too many of these bloody 5 am poll starts. "Oh well" NGirl's Natter Cube vs Sandal? Does anyone else think this is remotely amusing? I haven't played DA:O, so I don't know anything about Sandal, but I understand he's a minor character that no-one actually cares about, while WCC gets plushies, car dice and really disturbing NSFW pictures. Not that Sandal probably oesn't have some of those, I bet there's a slashfic out there already. Maybe with Link, everyone loves Link. However, the Cube is one of the few character's that envokes more love (if not popularity) than the Green-Skirted King, as should be obvious with the giant pink hearts on it. It tells you how to feel and we respond. If tanner had a biog pink heart on him, he could get at least 15% on Link. This is UNDEBATABLE. The Cube has a better pic, a better game, contest history and hordes of internet crazies on it's side. This is going to be an awesome performance that'll rip up the "Joke character can't get 50% argument". Cube with 68.21% I went at 73% for a while. Should've kept it at that in hindsight. --- :( |
Hyrule Division: Round 1 - Match 8 – (2) Nathan Drake vs. (15) The Boss Moltar’s Analysis Drake Has looked like garbage up until now. Will Uncharted 2 turn things around? The Boss Can she CQC Drake’s ass back to the fodder pile? What a trap match. You’ve got an overseeded, Uncharted 2 boosted Nathan Drake against a high-fodder, MGS character The Boss. One side is either going to get upset by a 15 seed or burned thanks to underestimating a 2 seed. Uncharted 1 got second in the fairly-weak PS3 poll 2 years ago. Drake got 7% against Squall, Yoshi and CATS. As you can see, there’s good reason to doubt Nathan going into this match. The Boss isn’t that strong herself, but I’ll take a tripling from Tifa and barely beating Tails over anything from Nathan Drake’s camp. The Boss wins this match if it’s held before the end of 2009. The reason why this match is in question is because of Uncharted 2. Thanks to increased PS3 ownership on the site, Uncharted 2 was much better received on GameFAQs. It dominated the PS3 GotY poll and got second in the overall GotY poll. Still, is that enough? Drake has to make up quite the gap to win, but it’s not like The Boss is all that strong. Another way to look at the match is Uncharted vs. MGS. Uncharted is a PS3 exclusive game, and while the PS3 audience is expanding, it’s still nothing compared to how much GameFAQs likes the MGS series. You’ve got MGS fans on all systems, and MGS3, which has shown that it’s no slouch, hails from the stronger Sony system, the PS2. So basically, you can look at this match as “fanbase of a decently-popular PS3 series” vs. “MGS and its army”. You know who wins that war. Then again…Captain Price’s performance a few days ago is really making Drake look tempting. I’m probably underestimating him…oh screw it, I’ll stick with Boss here and go down with the sinking ship. Moltar’s Bracket: The Boss > Nathan Drake Moltar’s Prediction: Nathan: 49% - The Boss: 51% Lopen’s Analysis Man I'd love to dress this match up but... http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3265 http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3265 http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3265 CATS. This is all I can think of when I see Nathan Drake. Sure, PS3 ownership has gone up. (not by that much mind you-- it was already gaining steam in 2008.) Sure, Uncharted 2 was in contention for GotY. Well, let me tell ya somethin. This year was a weak one for games, and games != characters. What we had right there was a near Tanner tier performance. Given any sort of reasonable boost, Drake can't make this ground up. The Boss is a low midcarder/high fodder. She did pretty well in the vote in so I don't think she's fallen much at all, either. Doesn't help that PS3 ownership is probably a direct subset of PS2 ownership, and that Uncharted markets to the same kind of audience that MGS does. Big Boss has been gettin stronger every year, and The Boss was from a game that was in contention for GotY in a year when the releases were actually worth a damn, and people actually care about The Boss so it's not like she was a token role in the game. Now don't let the percentage fool you, I'm not as confident as it implies. I give Drake a decent chance to upset just because of recency and a lot of boost potential. I just don't think it's likely he taps into all that potential. Lopen's prediction The Boss with 61.61% Transience’s Analysis Man, I wanted to go high on WCC but didn't have the balls to do it. Laaaaame. |
Anyway,
here's one of the most debated matches of round 1. Nathan Drake is one
of our biggest wildcards, a guy who got absolutely murdered in 2008 but
starred in one of the biggest games of 2009, Uncharted 2. We already
know how strong The Boss is -- high-end fodder. Is Nathan Drake
stronger than that? Let's do this pros and cons style. + Nathan Drake is one of the stars of 2009. His game is the consensus GOTY across multiple sites and the #2 game on this site for the year. + Nathan Drake is a very likable character. Fans of Uncharted like Nathan Drake a lot. - Uncharted is popular right now, but it's got nothing on Metal Gear Solid. Yeah, Uncharted did well in the GOTY poll, but MGS3 would have murdered Modern Warfare 2. - Nathan Drake is kind of generic as far as character design goes. GameFAQs likes its characters to be unique and badass; Nathan Drake is pretty much ordinary with nothing that really grabs people visually. He's certainly likable, but this isn't a guy you can compare to Kratos or Dante. Guys with average character designs -- Gordon Freeman, Balthier, etc -- tend to underperform as compared to their games. Nathan Drake has already shown us how low he can go. People know Dante as the DMC guy and Ryu Hayabusa as the Ninja Gaiden guy; they're "cool" and make people want to play the game. A picture of Drake won't inspire anyone to want to play Uncharted. People play Uncharted for the awesome cinematics and direction, not for Drake or his story. That said, Drake is by far the bigger character right now. The Boss is certainly a fan fave and from the bigger series, but she's not playable and six years old at this point. Drake is new, he's exciting and he's on people's minds. I'm not sold on him being too strong, but The Boss isn't strong either so I'll go with Drake. I could see him scoring a huge victory here or losing a close one. I'm pretty interested to see how this goes. transience's prediction: Nathan Drake with 54.11% Ngamer’s Analysis Fantastical writeup coming later! Ngamer Says: Nathan Drake > The Boss, 50.33% Kleenex’s Analysis Our hero Nathan Drake. This dude has probably has the most pre-contest discussion outside of the Pokemon dudes. Here's a guy that doubled by CATS of all people - he's got a generic look, a generic name, and he's from a PSTriple exclusive game. A death sentence for sure, but the site has shifted quite a bit in the past year or so; the PS3 isn't a $599 George Foreman grill anymore, and people seem to be more accepting of it. Game =/= characters and all that, but unless people play your game, no one's going to care about the character. On the other side, we've got the boss, who has had such classic contest showings as a mighty win over Celes Chere and going even with the juggernaut known as Tails. MGS has been hot the past couple years, but The Boss isn't very strong. I struggled a lot with this match initially, but in the end, I'm pretty comfortable with my choice. Not quite confident, but comfortable. I think Drake might surprise this year, brace for an Ulti-style blowout. Bracket: Nathan Drake Favorites: The Boss Prediction: Nathan Drake with 55.55% Red Sox’s Analysis This is one of the most heavily debated matches of round 1. Boss started out as the favorite due to Drake’s horrible, horrible, contest performance last year, getting easily doubled by CATS. The Boss may only be high fodder, but Drake looked like bottom of the barrel fodder last year. |
And
yet, Uncharted 2 was one of the biggest games of 2009, and it took 2nd
place in the GOTY poll, not far behind Modern Warfare 2. The question
became: If Uncharted 1 and the 2008 contest didn’t exist, would you
take Drake to win this match based on Uncharted 2 alone? The percentage
boost he’d require from it, beyond his 2008 strength, looks enormous,
and yet, it shouldn’t really take much to boost when you’re starting
off that weak. To me, the answer to that question is yes. Uncharted 2 is a big enough game that I would take its star to be able to beat low fodder based on it alone. Any strength Drake had from before is just gravy. The fact that this is a day match (and with no holiday, we’ll be seeing our first ASV of the contest) should also help Drake, as Western games tend to do well with the ASV while MGS, other than Snake, who appeared in Brawl, is very bad with it. Prediction: Nathan Drake with 53% Upset Potential: 30% Upper Bound: Drake with 59% Lower Bound: Boss with 53% Guest’s Analysis - DpOblivion http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/drupal/node/22?matchnum=3265&num=4 For the lazy ones with a bad memory, that's 6.87% for Drake against the likes of CATS, Squall, and Yoshi. Anyone who just looked at that and quickly penned in The Boss to win this match without a moment's hesitation when filling out your bracket needs to stop and re-think things. Just completely throw this information out the window, because there is one important fact on that page: "This match took place on Thursday, October 9, 2008." I am far too lazy to search for hard data such as sales and dates of price drops/sales boosts. But from what I can remember of the time, the PlayStation 3 was still a relatively rarely owned console around this community. Nothing PS3-exclusive stood half a chance at the time, because there was just no fanbase built up. I could probably count on my hands the amount of regulars on Board 8 who owned a PS3, let alone who owned Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Now, things are much changed in the 15 months since then. The amount of PS3 owners has skyrocketed. And with it came the realization from a far greater public that Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was one of the elite games the system had to offer. The game was then followed up by its brilliant sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which has been regarded by many as the Game of the Year. Of course, this is a popularity contests for characters, not games. But Nathan Drake is far from a boring, generic lead character who would solely be riding the popularity of his game. Admittedly, I have played much less video games than most of you here, but of what I have played, Nathan Drake is easily the best video game character I have seen. He is an extremely likable character, with great wit, charm, and badassery (that's a word, right?). Believe me, the popularity of Nathan Drake has increased exponentially from October 9, 2008. Now, you can't just look at this and say he will win; the opposing character obviously has a say in this. The Boss is from the hugely popular PlayStation branded Metal Gear Solid series, but The Boss herself has shown to have very little of the series' popularity. She didn't even make it into the last battle, after only managing to beat Tails by 346 votes the year before. This is a character that should not be feared. I take pleasure in knowing that I am not the only one who sees this. I certainly expected more people against Drake, but looking at the Guru predictions, I see him as the favorite with 58% of the brackets, including a majority among Crew members. So why am I devoting so much effort into this write-up? Because I'm about to take this one step further, because I don't know if I will have the opportunity to do next round's writeup as well, so I'm saying this now: Nathan Drake will beat WCC next round. |
Drake
is far too good of a character to get votes stolen away from him by a
joke character. Sure, less than half of the voters have played his
game, but that doesn't mean everyone who hasn't will be voting for WCC.
If you don't know either, and don't get the joke, why would you vote
for a cube? Nathan Drake will prevail. Hail Naughty Dog. Dp's bracket says: Nathan Drake Dp's prediction is: Nathan Drake with 59% *goes back to playing Uncharted 2* Crew Consensus: Drake is the Crew pick here. |
From: LinkMarioSamus | #259 Guest sign-ups for Divisions 3 and 4 will go up either tonight or tomorrow night --- Moltar Status: Bracket: Cube > Sandal (5/6) Contest Analysis Crew Archives: http://thecrew.speedrunwiki.com/ |
Crew Consensus: Drake is the Crew pick here. Looks like The Boss has it wrapped up then! Also, I just remembered. Nathan Drake was the kind of guy who would've been perfect to face GFNW back in the day: A guy with a generic first and last name, along with Tina Armstrong, Max Payne, Sam Fisher, and Leon Kennedy. You can throw in Phoenix Wright if you want, but Phoenix is hardly a generic name, which is probably why GFNW finally ended. --- "But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be...outside." "I am lightning...the rain transformed." |
Drake's got this. --- wheresoever you go, go with all your heart |
This is going to be an awesome performance that'll rip up the "Joke character can't get 50% argument". Really went all out on that, considering it was 2 joke characters in a 2-way fight. To be fair, I guess WCC is just a joke contestant whereas Sandal is not only a joke contestant but also actually a joke character in his game. |
I
think the WCC actually has some decent power, for a joke character.
Enough to make it to the division semi-finals, I think (though I'm
hoping Drake has enough ooomph to squeeze by WCC). --- "I do read sometimes." Mat Cauthon, The Wheel of Time. |
Man Boss has this locked up now --- KrahenProphet lived up to his name. |
tag --- "Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it around." - Calvin |
Haven't reviewed the early returns yet. --- Ngamer's Fantastical Writeup Holy smokes, was that ever a terrible match! Not competitive, not debated, trendless, we learn nothing from the result, and it will go down in history as the lowest vote total in Contest history (even topping the pathetic 50k from Max Payne vs Dirk the Daring in '02). Separate your jokes from now on SB! Now let us never speak of this again. We're closing in on the deadline so I won't be able to give this extremely interesting matchup the kind of writeup it deserves. Ammy's match was cool because we got to see the return of anti-votes resulting in one of the biggest flops in recent memory, but today's poll is great in that in could be a strong indicator for a number of important '10 trends. Going back to The Show once again, a couple weeks back Ed and I discussed how Nintendo just ain't what it used to be, and yet unlike in 2003 it doesn't seem as though Square's exactly on the rise either, so what's going to step up to fill the void? With the site seemingly becoming less RPG-centric by the day, we decided it would have to be the "new generation" of casual stars: guys like Altair, Kratos, and yes, Nathan Drake. In theory, the idea makes a ton of sense. And as to Drake specifically, we seem to have one of our strongest cases- Uncharted 2 got a huge marketing push, was hyped up as a surefire GotY contender, and eventually lived up to the billing by really impressing me in that Final GotY poll against Call of Duty. He seems to be setting himself up nicely as new icon of the PS3... take all that and add to it the fact that he apparently earned a #2 seed with ease and you have the recipe for a solid Contest outing, right? Well, it's what I convinced myself of when I switched my bracket over to Nathan in the final week. But now in these last minutes... I've got to admit I'm getting cold feet! In all my excitement over crowning a new icon, I neglected to actually go back and look at that final result from his GameFAQs debut back in '08. Gracious sakes, was that ever pathetic! Sure the site has warmed to the PS3 since then, and sure Uncharted 2 was a much higher profile release than the first, but man, he's going to have to have like... quadrupled in strength, since as Ocelot just showed us, no MGS character is a pushover. Has any character ever had that kind of turnaround in the course of a single offseason? None springs to mind... Alright, final decision: sticking with Drake, but boy am I nervous about it! Ngamer Says: Nathan Drake > The Boss, 50.33% --- KrahenProphet is the King of the Gurus! All Hail! thengamer.com/guru | thengamer.com/xstats | board8.wikia.com |
just watch, the second night vote will lead the boss to triumph. --- Shakes Fist! |
Dang,
that 10 minute update was sure a kick in the gut! But looks like Drake
has been fighting back pretty well since then... Is this just the
night-trendish DSV keeping Boss ahead, and Nathan can still go on a big
run after school lets out? Should be fun! --- KrahenProphet is the King of the Gurus! All Hail! thengamer.com/guru | thengamer.com/xstats | board8.wikia.com |
Crew is on a roll this year --- KrahenProphet lived up to his name. |
Well,
to be fair this is the first match I would have called wrong if I was
being 100% serious (have Boss in my bracket due to fanboyism) But still! --- KrahenProphet lived up to his name. |
At least with the Magus match we had a respectable 4-3 split. It's as though we're getting worse with age! --- KrahenProphet is the King of the Gurus! All Hail! thengamer.com/guru | thengamer.com/xstats | board8.wikia.com |
I'm kinda glad Drake is losing here even though I picked him. way too much Drake hype leading up to this match. I think Drake could make a match of it since the day vote is coming and MGS sucks ass then, but probably not. --- xyzzy |
Hmm. Oh well. Bring on the LIGHTNING. --- If you're seeing this sig, I'm not on my computer! |
The Crew may be 0-4 on debatable matches, but I am a pristine 2-2. Do not worry, Crew, I shall bring back your credibility! --- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love! |
I want to know what the Crew consensus is before I do my writeups so I can pick the opposite. --- If you're seeing this sig, I'm not on my computer! |
From: KleenexTissue50 | #281 Pretty sure they all have Sonic and Knuckles tomorrow! --- "Spoil it for me. I'm never going to play that game so I want to know if he's going to be another Auron or another Sin." - Soul about Jecht vs. PW |
Lightning is a lock now, isn't she --- KrahenProphet lived up to his name. |
From: KamikazePotato | #283 In Asia! --- "Spoil it for me. I'm never going to play that game so I want to know if he's going to be another Auron or another Sin." - Soul about Jecht vs. PW |
From: Lopen | #280 3-1 and I can use the "clouded by fanboyism" excuse for Shadow! aww yeah --- Moltar Status: Bracket: The Boss > Drake (6/7) Contest Analysis Crew Archives: http://thecrew.speedrunwiki.com/ |
also the Crew Consensus was right for Red --- Moltar Status: Bracket: The Boss > Drake (6/7) Contest Analysis Crew Archives: http://thecrew.speedrunwiki.com/ |
Any personal credibility you have over me is shot by virtue of being the leader of this 0-4 crew. You're like The Shredder. Sure, you beat everyone down when you actually decide to fight, but your credibility as a villain is permanently hurt every time you deploy your lackeys and they fail. Meanwhile I'm like that badass villain that just kicks ass when I come in, then I mysteriously vanish into the shadows. Not sure if TMNT has such a villain to complete this analogy but I figure they must. And by kick ass I mean go 50/50. --- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love! |
Oh Red was the pick? I thought it was Ocelot I blame KP for that. --- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love! |
From: Lopen | #286 Pretty sure it's this guy http://media.80stees.com/images/products/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_Brain-T-link.jpg ...yeah --- KrahenProphet lived up to his name. |
Dude I thought of Krang I don't think that's what I want. Pretty sure he gets his ass beat a few times too. --- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love! |
From: Lopen | #287 You're like the bad guy who whoops the heroes' collective asses in the first half of the show, and then they train/get powerful mcguffin/new strategy and stomp you in the rematch. --- holy crap, you used an apostrophe to make a word plural at least 3 times in that post. that's like cryptonite to me if I was batman - Bako Ikporamee |
He has a name? I just typed 'tmnt brain' into google image search. Anyway, I motion that me and Leon go form our own Crew based on our astounding perfect performance in the first 1/8 of the first round. Obviously we know what's up! --- I look at my later rounds and see a bracket in flames |
From: G0EMONIMPACT | #291 I'll take this. Though I still don't know who the heck that is. Damn you TMNT for being so episodic back when I watched. --- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love! |
Lopen can be Bebop and/or Rocksteady. Or Slash. I hate that guy in Turtles in Time. --- "Stay with me until the end. Please." "Not until the end. Always." |
Slash. That guy fits the bill. Bebop and Rocksteady are the incompetent goons who keep causin the plans to fail. tran and Red Sox seem like good dues to fit the bill. --- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love! |
TMNT Analysis Crew --- If you're seeing this sig, I'm not on my computer! |
So who gets to be Leatherhead and the Rat King? --- "Stay with me until the end. Please." "Not until the end. Always." |
I hate each and every one of you. --- xyzzy |
You hate TMNT? Whats wrong with you --- Ah, you know it's funny, these people, they go to sleep. They think everything's fine, everything's good... They wake up the next day and they're on fire. |
Moltar - Shredder Lopen - Slash Ngamer - Bebop Tranny - Rocksteady Kleenex - Krang Red Sox - Rat King Guest - Foot Clan Imhhho. I'd rather be Shredder but you know gotta know my role --- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love! |
