Sorry it took longer to post than I anticipated but welcome to my eighth annual Final Fantasy Character knockout game! I have 128 characters, from Final Fantasy I to Final Fantasy XV, and Final Fantasy Tactics all meshed in and spat out to form battles. Who will be victorious?

Due to the ruling on the 5th Annual Games that the winner from the previous year will take the next year off, so this year we say goodbye to Beatrix from Final Fantasy 9, and welcome back Rydia from Final Fantasy 4!

Here's the podium finishes each year thus far:
The 1st Games 2011: Squall, 46 points | Sephiroth, 37 points | Shadow, 31 points
The 2nd Games 2012: Vivi, 42 points | Beatrix, 36 points | Zidane, 32 points
The 3rd Games 2013: Vivi, 26 points | Zidane, 25 points | Squall, 21 points
The 4th Games 2014: Vivi, 37 points | Gilgamesh, 26 points | Laguna, 30 points
The 5th Games 2015: Kefka, 36 points | Auron, 29 points | Edgar, 27 points
The 6th Games 2016: Rydia, 35 points | Celes, 29 points | Quina, 25 points
The 7th Games 2017: Beatrix, 28 points | Cid (Tactics), 24 points | Terra, 25 points

I've decided after this year's game to remove a few characters again and consider some replacements, but we'll do that in a different thread after Round 1 finishes in a few weeks.

So with Beatrix out and Rydia back and another year has passed since we got the nine new FF15 characters in, who is going to win this year? Next to each character I've put down the game they appeared in, followed by position each character is in tally wise, and their votes tally from the result of both years as well. In Round 2 onwards I'll also post their total tally this year. This is all for information purposes, if you're a statistical nerd like me. If that doesn't make sense, here's what Beatrix's name would look like, if she were playing this year:

Beatrix (IX, 4th, 141)

We added in some characters three years ago to freshen things up, so these characters will remain highlighted in blue to give them a bit of love, they are still quite new to the games due to being introduced later than everyone else so are still quite low on the rankings! The nine FF15 characters will be highlighted in red as well, to also highlight them for the same reasons.

By the way, make sure you get voting in the Qualifiers for Shad's 2019 FF Rumble Game by clicking here - Thread 224969

If you haven't played any of my FF Knockout Games in the past, here are the rules:

The Rules
1. To vote, simply check who is going against who and reply with your favourite character in each roundup, preferably in a column format.
2. When a round finishes, if there are any tiebreakers, I'll post them up at the end. Tiebreakers are to be decided by listing them, and asking the question again about who is their favourite, the first response wins the tiebreak (eg. if the tiebreaker was Kefka vs Cloud, and the first poster to respond chooses Kefka, Kefka goes through to the next round).
3. All these battles are chosen randomly, I've used a simple Excel spreadsheet and the "Rand" formula to help me make it fair and square. The only exceptions I've made is that there's no two characters from the same game going against eachother. I'm going to try and keep characters from the same games apart for as long as possible, although that may get difficult later.
4. I'll keep these rounds open for around a week before posting the next one.
5. Because Round 1 has 64 battles, I'll split it into four sections (so you'll see 16 battles today, 16 in the next update etc). Round 2 will have 32 battles and I'll split that into two sections. Round 3 onwards will be posted in the complete forms.
6. Don't take this seriously, it's just a bit of fun. By all means debate why you love or hate certain characters, just be respectful of others feelings of those same characters.

So without any further delay, here's the first part of Round 1...

Round 1A
Hope (XIII, 112th, 13) vs Sephiroth (VII, 27th, 72)
Cid (IV, 48th, 44) vs Lilisette (XI, 110th, 14)
Aranea (XV, 129th, 2) vs Jihl (XIII, 126th, 5)
Yunalesca (X, 126th, 5) vs Barret (VII, 33rd, 65)
Aria (III, 81st, 25) vs Galuf (V, 30th, 68)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 116) vs Mustadio (Tactics, 94th, 22)
Chaos (I, 94th, 22) vs Rinoa (VIII, 40th, 54)
Papalymo (XIV, 94th, 22) vs Shadow Lord (XI, 81st, 25)
Rafa (Tactics, 87th, 23) vs Terra (VI, 5th, 139)
Zemus (IV, 94th, 22) vs Bahamut (I, 94th, 22)
Larsa (XII, 70th, 30) vs Thancred (XIV, 96th, 21)
Vivi (IX, 2nd, 52) vs Boko (V, 87th, 23)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 68) vs Rikku (X, 46th, 47)
Celes (VI, 11th, 97) vs Cecil (IV, 18th, 85)
Krile (V, 78th, 26) vs Iris (XV, 129th, 2)
Tiamat (I, 103rd, 17) vs Quistis (VIII, 51st, 43)

Can we have a moderator sticky this thread please? :)

Here are my votes:
Sephiroth
Cid (IV)
Jihl
Barret
Galuf
Laguna
Rinoa
Papalymo
Terra
Bahamut
Larsa
Vivi
Hojo
Cecil
Iris
Quistis

Oh nice, I assumed this wasn't happening. I'll check it out in a bit.

This is the first run since I've actually played FF1, 2, and 3. Also, 4 through 8 are relatively fresh in my memory. So that will make it more interesting from my perspective.

---------- Post added at 06:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:20 PM ----------

Sephiroth (VII, 27th, 72)
Cid (IV, 48th, 44)
Aranea (XV, 129th, 2)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 65)
Galuf (V, 30th, 68)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 116) ~guarantee you I would have voted Mustadio here in previous years
Chaos (I, 94th, 22) ~on the other hand, Rinoa has gone from just another forgotten character to my least favorite in the entire franchise
Papalymo (XIV, 94th, 22)
Terra (VI, 5th, 139)
Bahamut (I, 94th, 22) ~probably would have voted Zemus here in previous years
Thancred (XIV, 96th, 21)
Vivi (IX, 2nd, 52)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 68)
Celes (VI, 11th, 97)
Krile (V, 78th, 26)
Quistis (VIII, 51st, 43)

Round 1A
Sephiroth (VII, 27th, 72)
Cid (IV, 48th, 44)
Aranea (XV, 129th, 2)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 65)
Galuf (V, 30th, 68)
Mustadio (Tactics, 94th, 22)
Rinoa (VIII, 40th, 54)
Shadow Lord (XI, 81st, 25)
Terra (VI, 5th, 139)
Bahamut (I, 94th, 22)
Larsa (XII, 70th, 30)
Vivi (IX, 2nd, 52)
Rikku (X, 46th, 47)
Celes (VI, 11th, 97)
Iris (XV, 129th, 2)
Quistis (VIII, 51st, 43)

Round 1A

Sephiroth (VII, 27th, 72)
Cid (IV, 48th, 44)
Aranea (XV, 129th, 2)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 65)
Galuf (V, 30th, 68)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 116)
Rinoa (VIII, 40th, 54)
Shadow Lord (XI, 81st, 25)
Terra (VI, 5th, 139)
Bahamut (I, 94th, 22)
Thancred (XIV, 96th, 21)
Boko (V, 87th, 23)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 68)
Celes (VI, 11th, 97)
Krile (V, 78th, 26)
Quistis (VIII, 51st, 43)

Here's Round 1B, so if you haven't voted for Round 1A yet there's plenty of time, you can vote for Round 1A and Round 1B together :)

Round 1B
Cid (VII, 13th, 95) vs Gladiolus (XV, 123rd, 6)
Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 21) vs Vincent (VII, 16th, 88)
Leon (II, 81st, 25) vs Wakka (X, 103rd, 17)
Cloud (VII, 28th, 71) vs Fran (XII, 67th, 33)
Edea (VIII, 51st, 43) vs Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 47)
Yang (IV, 67th, 33) vs Freya (IX, 37th, 57)
Lunafreya (XV, 117th, 10) vs Kefka (VI, 8th, 111)
Sazh (XIII, 59th, 37) vs Tidus (X, 78th, 26)
Stiltzkin (IX, 78th, 26) vs Ashe (XII, 61st, 35)
Ricard (II, 100th, 18) vs Rubicante (IV, 72nd, 28)
Quina (IX, 24th, 76) vs Jecht (X, 41st, 51)
Aphmau (XI, 98th, 20) vs Lenna (V, 63rd, 34)
Kain (IV, 21st, 78) vs Gabranth (XII, 59th, 37)
Exdeath (V, 67th, 33) vs Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 65)
Lightning (XIII, 112th, 13) vs Seifer (VIII, 60th, 36)
Marilith (I, 87th, 23) vs Edgar (VI, 6th, 121)

Cid (VII, 13th, 95)
Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 21) ! and I didn't even like Vincent on my replay really
Wakka (X, 103rd, 17) Leon is probably my least favorite character in the first 8 games of the franchise after Rinoa.
Cloud (VII, 28th, 71)
Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 47)
Freya (IX, 37th, 57)
Kefka (VI, 8th, 111)
Sazh (XIII, 59th, 37)
Stiltzkin (IX, 78th, 26)
Rubicante (IV, 72nd, 28)
Jecht (X, 41st, 51)
Lenna (V, 63rd, 34)
Kain (IV, 21st, 78)
Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 65)
Seifer (VIII, 60th, 36) ! Another character I grew to appreciate that I didn't like before.
Edgar (VI, 6th, 121)

A lot of these paired unfamiliar names against characters from the games I just replayed, so I feel like I was pretty heavily biased heh.

Cid (VII)
Vincent
Wakka
Cloud
Edea
Yang
Kefka
Sazh
Stiltzkin
Rubicante
Quina
Lenna
Kain
Exdeath
Seifer
Edgar

Round 1B

Cid (VII, 13th, 95)
Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 21)
Leon (II, 81st, 25)
Fran (XII, 67th, 33)
Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 47)
Freya (IX, 37th, 57)
Lunafreya (XV, 117th, 10)
Tidus (X, 78th, 26)
Stiltzkin (IX, 78th, 26)
Rubicante (IV, 72nd, 28)
Quina (IX, 24th, 76)
Aphmau (XI, 98th, 20)
Kain (IV, 21st, 78)
Exdeath (V, 67th, 33)
Seifer (VIII, 60th, 36)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 121)

Sephiroth (VII, 27th, 72)
Lilisette (XI, 110th, 14)
Jihl (XIII, 126th, 5)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 65)
Galuf (V, 30th, 68)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 116
Rinoa (VIII, 40th, 54)
Papalymo (XIV, 94th, 22)
Terra (VI, 5th, 139)
Bahamut (I, 94th, 22)
Larsa (XII, 70th, 30)
Vivi (IX, 2nd, 52)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 68)
Celes (VI, 11th, 97)
Krile (V, 78th, 26)
Quistis (VIII, 51st, 43)

Round 1B
Cid (VII, 13th, 95)
Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 21)
Wakka (X, 103rd, 17)
Cloud (VII, 28th, 71)
Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 47)
Freya (IX, 37th, 57)
Kefka (VI, 8th, 111)
Sazh (XIII, 59th, 37)
Ashe (XII, 61st, 35)
Rubicante (IV, 72nd, 28)
Jecht changed my mind here
Aphmau (XI, 98th, 20)
Gabranth (XII, 59th, 37)
Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 65)
Seifer (VIII, 60th, 36)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 121)

WB Johnny :D

Here's Round 1C, so again, if you haven't voted for Round 1A or 1B yet there's still time, you can vote for Round 1A, 1B and Round 1C together if you wish :)

Round 1C
Ignis (XV, 123rd, 6) vs Balthier (XII, 27th, 72)
Cid (IX, 47th, 46) vs King Tycoon (V, 105th, 16)
Lulu (X, 31st, 66) vs Serah (XIII, 99th, 19)
Faris (V, 42nd, 50) vs Cid (III, 120th, 8)
Lion (XI, 110th, 14) vs Tellah (IV, 37th, 57)
Kimahri (X, 19th, 81) vs Leila (II, 120th, 8)
Ellone (VIII, 117th, 10) vs Cid (Tactics, 34th, 64)
Astos (I, 87th, 23) vs Basch (XII, 68th, 32)
Shadow (VI, 15th, 89) vs Golbez (IV, 63rd, 34)
Prishe (XI, 87th, 23) vs Garland (I, 70th, 30)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 29) vs Y'shtola (XIV, 67th, 33)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 41) vs Ardyn (XV, 129th, 2)
Noctis (XV, 117th, 10) vs Desch (III, 110th, 14)
Kuja (IX, 27th, 72) vs Squall (VIII, 10th, 99)
Rydia (IV, 9th, 107) vs Locke (VI, 13th, 95)
Tifa (VII, 21st, 78) vs Yuna (X, 43rd, 49)

Round 1C

Balthier (XII, 27th, 72)
Cid (IX, 47th, 46)
Lulu (X, 31st, 66)
Faris (V, 42nd, 50)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 57)
Kimahri (X, 19th, 81)
Ellone (VIII, 117th, 10)
Basch (XII, 68th, 32)
Shadow (VI, 15th, 89)
Garland (I, 70th, 30)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 29)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 41)
Noctis (XV, 117th, 10)
Kuja (IX, 27th, 72)
Rydia (IV, 9th, 107)
Tifa (VII, 21st, 78)

Ignis (XV, 123rd, 6)
Cid (IX, 47th, 46)
Lulu (X, 31st, 66)
Faris (V, 42nd, 50)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 57)
Leila (II, 120th, 8) ~the only FF2 character I liked heh
Cid (Tactics, 34th, 64)
Basch (XII, 68th, 32)
Shadow (VI, 15th, 89) ~I think I probably would have voted Golbez here before replaying them
Garland (I, 70th, 30)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 29)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 41)
Desch (III, 110th, 14)
Squall (VIII, 10th, 99) ~I would have never voted for Squall over anybody before replaying the game heh.
Locke (VI, 13th, 95)
Tifa (VII, 21st, 78)

Round 1B
Cid (VII, 13th, 95)
Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 21)
Wakka (X, 103rd, 17)
Cloud (VII, 28th, 71)
Edea (VIII, 51st, 43)
Freya (IX, 37th, 57)
Kefka (VI, 8th, 111)
Sazh (XIII, 59th, 37)
Stiltzkin (IX, 78th, 26)
Rubicante (IV, 72nd, 28)
Jecht (X, 41st, 51)
Lenna (V, 63rd, 34)
Kain (IV, 21st, 78)
Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 65)
Seifer (VIII, 60th, 36)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 121)

Round 1C
Ignis (XV, 123rd, 6)
Cid (IX, 47th, 46)
Lulu (X, 31st, 66)
Faris (V, 42nd, 50)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 57)
Kimahri (X, 19th, 81)
Cid (Tactics, 34th, 64)
Basch (XII, 68th, 32)
Shadow (VI, 15th, 89)
Garland (I, 70th, 30)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 29)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 41)
Noctis (XV, 117th, 10)
Squall (VIII, 10th, 99)
Locke (VI, 13th, 95)
Yuna (X, 43rd, 49)

Round 1C
Balthier (XII, 27th, 72)
Cid (IX, 47th, 46)
Lulu (X, 31st, 66)
Faris (V, 42nd, 50)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 57)
Leila (II, 120th, 8)
Orlandu (Tactics, 34th, 64)
Basch (XII, 68th, 32)
Shadow (VI, 15th, 89)
Garland (I, 70th, 30)
Y'shtola (XIV, 67th, 33)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 41)
Noctis (XV, 117th, 10)
Kuja (IX, 27th, 72)
Rydia (IV, 9th, 107) hard one
Tifa (VII, 21st, 78)

Round 1C
Balthier
Cid (IX)
Lulu
Faris
Tellah
Kimahri
Ellone
Basch
Shadow
Garland
Red XIII
Sabin
Noctis
Kuja
Locke
Tifa

And finally, here's Round 1D. If you haven't voted for Round 1A or 1B or 1C you have until Monday next week to vote for all parts of Round 1, before we move to any potential tiebreakers and Round 2 :)

Round 1D
Steiner (IX, 24th, 76) vs Ultros (VI, 18th, 85)
Lahabrea (XIV, 114th, 12) vs Auron (X, 1st, 160)
Rosa (IV, 55th, 41) vs Djinn (III, 114th, 12)
Yda (XIV, 98th, 20) vs Selphie (VIII, 59th, 37)
Seymour (X, 55th, 41) vs Cid (V, 78th, 26)
Zell (VIII, 56th, 40) vs Prompto (XV, 123rd, 6)
Penelo (XII, 74th, 27) vs Niellefresne (XIV, 120th, 8)
Leo (VI, 51st, 43) vs Unei (III, 107th, 15)
Rufus (VII, 52nd, 42) vs Firion (II, 94th, 22)
Vanille (XIII, 87th, 23) vs Zidane (IX, 3rd, 147)
Aeris (VII, 38th, 56) vs Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 92)
Setzer (VI, 35th, 63) vs Semih Lafihna (XI, 94th, 22)
Irvine (VIII, 46th, 47) vs Gordon (II, 107th, 15)
Alma (Tactics, 105th, 16) vs Sara (III, 103rd, 17)
The Emperor (II, 74th, 27) vs Dagger (IX, 24th, 76)
Cor (XV, 126th, 5) vs Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 54)

Ultros (VI, 18th, 85)
Lahabrea (XIV, 114th, 12)
Rosa (IV, 55th, 41)
Selphie (VIII, 59th, 37)
Cid (V, 78th, 26)
Prompto (XV, 123rd, 6)
Niellefresne (XIV, 120th, 8)
Unei (III, 107th, 15)
Rufus (VII, 52nd, 42)
Vanille (XIII, 87th, 23)
Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 92)
Setzer (VI, 35th, 63)
Gordon (II, 107th, 15)
Sara (III, 103rd, 17)
Dagger (IX, 24th, 76)
Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 54)

Round 1D
Ultros (VI, 18th, 85)
Auron (X, 1st, 160)
Rosa (IV, 55th, 41)
Selphie (VIII, 59th, 37)
Cid (V, 78th, 26)
Zell (VIII, 56th, 40)
Niellefresne (XIV, 120th, 8)
Leo (VI, 51st, 43)
Rufus (VII, 52nd, 42)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 147)
Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 92)
Setzer (VI, 35th, 63)
Irvine (VIII, 46th, 47)
Alma (Tactics, 105th, 16)
Dagger (IX, 24th, 76)
Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 54)

Steiner
Auron
Djinn
Selphie
Seymour
Prompto
Penelo
Leo
Rufus
Zidane
Gilgamesh
Setzer
Irvine
Sara
Dagger
Cor

Round 1D
Rusty (IX, 24th, 76) oooof
Auron (X, 1st, 160)
Rosa (IV, 55th, 41)
Selphie (VIII, 59th, 37)
Seymour (X, 55th, 41)
Zell (VIII, 56th, 40)
Penelo (XII, 74th, 27)
Leo (VI, 51st, 43)
Rufus (VII, 52nd, 42)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 147)
Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 92)
Setzer (VI, 35th, 63)
Irvine (VIII, 46th, 47)
Alma (Tactics, 105th, 16)
Garnet (IX, 24th, 76)
Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 54)

Round 1D

Steiner (IX, 24th, 76) - tough, but go Rusty!
Auron (X, 1st, 160)
Rosa (IV, 55th, 41)
Yda (XIV, 98th, 20)
Cid (V, 78th, 26)
Prompto (XV, 123rd, 6)
Niellefresne (XIV, 120th, 8)
Leo (VI, 51st, 43)
Firion (II, 94th, 22)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 147)
Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 92)
Setzer (VI, 35th, 63)
Gordon (II, 107th, 15)
Alma (Tactics, 105th, 16)
Dagger (IX, 24th, 76)
Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 54)

Last chance to vote for Round 1! At present there are no tiebreakers so we'll go straight into Round 2 tomorrow! :)

Round 1 Roundup

Most Popular Characters - 21 characters lead the way so far, all with 5 points, but obviously this will open out as the game goes forward. I'll list them in Round 2 onwards due to how many people "lead" at the moment.

Most Popular Characters (All Time) � Terra from FF6 has moved up from 5th to 4th, with Beatrix from FF9 moving downwards due to not being in the game this year. Celes of FF6 has pipped into the Top 10, knocking Squall of FF8 into 11th who didn't make it into Round 2.

Lowest Drop in All Time Rankings � Marilith of FF1, Rafa of FF Tactics and Prishe of FF11 all got 0 points in this year's game and have currently all gone down 7 rankings each. In fact - one of those characters are going to be removed from next year's game. More on that in a different thread another time.

Highest Rise in All Time Rankings � After an amazing first round, Bahamut of FF1 has gone up 14 rankings so far and is currently having his best game in 4 years. Can he go up any higher?

Centenarians - We went from 5 Centenarians to 9 last year. We've had another 3 characters join them already from Round 1 - and they are Celes of FF6, Squall of FF8 and Cid of FF7. So that's 12 now! Once a character hits 200 points then we'll celebrate Double Centenarians, but that's 2-3 years from now I'd imagine.

"Biggest Upsets" � How big an upset can you get than from the previous champion returning to action then getting defeated in Round 1! 2016 champion Rydia of FF4 got knocked out by Locke of FF6! Can you get a bigger upset than that? Yes you can!! Vincent of FF7, ranked 16th, was defeated by Dycedarg of FF Tactics, ranked 96th! That's a whooping 80 places!!

We're making some changes to next year's game. Click here to find out more on how you can vote on who to include in the game! :D (Thread 227067)

Okay! Round 2 will be split into two parts over two weeks. Naturally, we'll start with Round 2A.

Round 2A
(Key: Character, Game, Last Year�s Rank, This Year�s Points Tally)
Characters that joined three years ago are still in blue
Brand new FF15 characters joininng this year are still in red

Jecht (X, 41st, 3) vs Faris (V, 42nd, 5)
Rosa (IV, 44th, 4) vs Aranea (XV, 129th, 3)
Prompto (XV, 123rd, 3) vs Niellefresne (XIV, 120th, 3)
Setzer (VI, 35th, 5) vs Freya (IX, 37th, 4)
Kimahri (X, 19th, 3) vs Quistis (VIII, 51st, 5)
Steiner (IX, 24th, 3) vs Kefka (VI, 8th, 4)
Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 3) vs Dagger (IX, 24th, 5)
Leo (VI, 51st, 4) vs Selphie (VIII, 59th, 4)
Noctis (XV, 117th, 5) vs Celes (VI, 11th, 4)
Locke (VI, 13th, 3) vs Cid (V, 78th, 4)
Vivi (IX, 2nd, 4) vs Edgar (VI, 6th, 5)
Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 4) vs Galuf (V, 30th, 5)
Sazh (XIII, 59th, 4) vs Tellah (IV, 37th, 5)
Cid (IV, 48th, 4) vs Laguna (VIII, 7th, 4)
Lenna (V, 63rd, 3) vs Cid (VII, 13th, 5)
Rinoa (VIII, 40th, 4) vs Cid (Tactics, 34th, 3)

Round 2A

Faris (V, 42nd, 5)
Aranea (XV, 129th, 3)
Prompto (XV, 123rd, 3)
Freya (IX, 37th, 4)
Kimahri (X, 19th, 3)
Steiner (IX, 24th, 3)
Dagger (IX, 24th, 5)
Leo (VI, 51st, 4)
Celes (VI, 11th, 4)
Locke (VI, 13th, 3)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 5)
Galuf (V, 30th, 5)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 5)
Cid (IV, 48th, 4)
Cid (VII, 13th, 5)
Rinoa (VIII, 40th, 4)

Round 2A

Jecht (X, 41st, 3)
Rosa (IV, 44th, 4)
Prompto (XV, 123rd, 3)
Setzer (VI, 35th, 5)
Kimahri (X, 19th, 3)
Kefka (VI, 8th, 4)
Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 3)
Leo (VI, 51st, 4)
Celes (VI, 11th, 4)
Locke (VI, 13th, 3)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 5)
Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 4)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 5)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 4)
Cid (VII, 13th, 5)
Cid (Tactics, 34th, 3)

Jecht (X, 41st, 3)
Aranea (XV, 129th, 3)
Prompto (XV, 123rd, 3)
Freya (IX, 37th, 4)
Quistis (VIII, 51st, 5)
Steiner (IX, 24th, 3) ooof
Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 3)
Leo (VI, 51st, 4)
Celes (VI, 11th, 4)
Locke (VI, 13th, 3)
Vivi (IX, 2nd, 4)
Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 4)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 5)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 4)
Cid (VII, 13th, 5)
Orlandu (Tactics, 34th, 3)

Faris
Aranea
Prompto
Setzer
Kimahri
Kefka
Dagger
Leo
Noctis
Locke
Vivi
Galuf
Sazh
Laguna
Cid (VII)
Rinoa

If you guys haven't seen it yet, I've made a thread to vote on what characters to include for next year's game, click here for more info - Thread 227067

Faris (V, 42nd, 5)
Aranea (XV, 129th, 3)
Prompto (XV, 123rd, 3)
Freya (IX, 37th, 4)
Quistis (VIII, 51st, 5)
Kefka (VI, 8th, 4)
Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 3)
Selphie (VIII, 59th, 4)
Celes (VI, 11th, 4)
Locke (VI, 13th, 3)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 5)
Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 4)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 5)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 4)
Cid (VII, 13th, 5)
Cid (Tactics, 34th, 3)

Here's Round 2B, if you haven't voted for Round 2A yet, you can do them both together. Saturday we'll be moving towards Round 3.

Round 2B
(Key: Character, Game, Last Year’s Rank, This Year’s Points Tally)
Characters that joined three years ago are still in blue
Brand new FF15 characters joininng this year are still in red

Balthier (XII, 27th, 3) vs Krile (V, 78th, 3)
Kain (IV, 21st, 4) vs Larsa (XII, 70th, 3)
Lulu (X, 31st, 5) vs Rufus (VII, 52nd, 4)
Basch (XII, 68th, 5) vs Zidane (IX, 3rd, 4)
Garland (I, 70th, 5) vs Rubicante (IV, 72nd, 5)
Kuja (IX, 27th, 3) vs Tifa (VII, 21st, 4)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 4) vs Seifer (VIII, 60th, 5)
Irvine (VIII, 46th, 3) vs Barret (VII, 33rd, 5)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 4) vs Papalymo (XIV, 94th, 3)
Stiltzkin (IX, 78th, 4) vs Cloud (VII, 28th, 4)
Shadow (VI, 15th, 5) vs Auron (X, 1st, 4)
Cid (IX, 47th, 5) vs Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 4)
Wakka (X, 103rd, 4) vs Sabin (VI, 55th, 5)
Terra (VI, 5th, 5) vs Bahamut (I, 94th, 5)
Sephiroth (VII, 27th, 5) vs Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 3)
Alma (Tactics, 105th, 3) vs Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 5)

Round 2B

Balthier (XII, 27th, 3)
Kain (IV, 21st, 4)
Lulu (X, 31st, 5)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 4)
Garland (I, 70th, 5)
Tifa (VII, 21st, 4)
Seifer (VIII, 60th, 5)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 5)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 4)
Cloud (VII, 28th, 4)
Shadow (VI, 15th, 5)
Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 4)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 5)
Terra (VI, 5th, 5)
Sephiroth (VII, 27th, 5)
Alma (Tactics, 105th, 3)

2B

Krile (V, 78th, 3)
Kain (IV, 21st, 4)
Lulu (X, 31st, 5)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 4)
Rubicante (IV, 72nd, 5)
Kuja (IX, 27th, 3)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 4)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 5)
Papalymo (XIV, 94th, 3)
Stiltzkin (IX, 78th, 4)
Auron (X, 1st, 4)
Cid (IX, 47th, 5)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 5)
Bahamut (I, 94th, 5)
Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 3)
Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 5)

Round 2B

Balthier (XII, 27th, 3)
Larsa (XII, 70th, 3)
Lulu (X, 31st, 5)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 4)
Garland (I, 70th, 5)
Tifa (VII, 21st, 4) Aaaaaaaa
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 4)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 5)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 4)
Stiltzkin (IX, 78th, 4)
Auron (X, 1st, 4)
Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 4)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 5)
Terra (VI, 5th, 5)
Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 3)
Alma (Tactics, 105th, 3) She's in a danger of being kicked out from character list, right? If She's safe i change vote for Gil.

Round 2B
Alma (Tactics, 105th, 3) She's in a danger of being kicked out from character list, right? If She's safe i change vote for Gil.

Alma's safe. I'll take your vote as Gilgamesh :)

Round 2B
Balthier
Kain
Lulu
Zidane
Rubicante
Kuja
Red XIII
Irvine
Hojo
Cloud
Auron
Cid
Wakka
Terra
Sephiroth
Gilgamesh

Balthier (XII, 27th, 3)
Kain (IV, 21st, 4)
Rufus (VII, 52nd, 4)
Basch (XII, 68th, 5)
Rubicante (IV, 72nd, 5)
Tifa (VII, 21st, 4)
Seifer (VIII, 60th, 5)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 5)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 4)
Cloud (VII, 28th, 4)
Shadow (VI, 15th, 5)
Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 4)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 5)
Bahamut (I, 94th, 5)
Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 3)
Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 5)

Alma's safe. I'll take your vote as Gilgamesh :)



Thx Johnny:)

Around 12 hours guys until Round 3 commences, if you haven't voted yet, now's the time to vote for both Round 2A and 2B. :)

Round 2 Roundup

Most Popular Characters - We officially have a leader now in Cid from FF7, he's the only character to have accumulated 10 points so far. Following him is five other characters all on 9 points, namely Tellah from FF4, Gilgamesh from FF5, Sabin from FF6, Barret from FF7 and Lulu from FF10.

Most Popular Characters (All Time) � Cid from FF7 has also moved up from 13th to 11th. The Top 10 stays the same.

Lowest Drop in All Time Rankings � Golbez is currently taking the "biggest loser" crown at the moment, he's now gone down 9 ranks, from 63rd to 72nd. He didn't get a single point in this year's game.

Highest Rise in All Time Rankings � Bahamut from FF1 may have been eliminated from the game in Round 2, but his 7 points shot him up from 94th to 77th place, 17 rankings! It was his best performance since 2012.

Centenarians - Another round, another 2 Centenarians. Joining the 100 point club is Gilgamesh from FF5 and Locke from FF6, so that's 14 characters in total now! Next on the list would have been Shadow from FF6 but he got eliminated. I think that's all the Centenarians we will see this year actually, because the next character that could make the mark is Kimahri from FF10, but he has 87 points. It's a big ask but you never know!

"Biggest Upsets" � Aranea from FF15 was ranked 129th at the start of the game and she defeated Rosa, ranked 44th from FF4, a difference of 85 places! Aranea is a new character mind. If we're not including "new" characters, Dycedarg of FF Tactics, ranked 96th, beat Cid of FF9 ranked 47th, a difference of 49 places. The highest ranked casualty in Round 2 was Vivi of FF9, once a three time champion, ranked 2nd, losing to 6th ranked Edgar. It was a brutal battle but it's all randomly selected!

We're making some changes to next year's game. Click here to find out more on how you can vote on who to include in the game! :D (Thread 227067)

Going forward each round will be one week, and there will be no longer any splitting of rounds. Here's Round 3!

Round 3
(Key: Character, Game, Last Year�s Rank, This Year�s Points Tally)
Characters that joined three years ago are still in blue
Brand new FF15 characters joininng this year are still in red

Celes (VI, 11th, 8) vs Lulu (X, 31st, 9)
Balthier (XII, 27th, 7) vs Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 7)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 9) vs Rubicante (IV, 72nd, 8)
Freya (IX, 37th, 7) vs Tifa (VII, 21st, 7)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 9) vs Faris (V, 42nd, 8)
Auron (X, 1st, 7) vs Edgar (VI, 6th, 8)
Prompto (XV, 123rd, 8) vs Hojo (VII, 30th, 8)
Leo (VI, 51st, 8) vs Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 6)
Cloud (VII, 28th, 7) vs Terra (VI, 5th, 8)
Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 6) vs Tellah (IV, 37th, 9)
Locke (VI, 13th, 8) vs Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 7)
Aranea (XV, 129th, 7) vs Cid (VII, 13th, 10)
Kimahri (X, 19th, 6) vs Kefka (VI, 8th, 7)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 8) vs Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 9)
Kain (IV, 21st, 8) vs Laguna (VIII, 7th, 8)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 7) vs Cid (Tactics, 34th, 6)

Celes (VI, 11th, 8)
Balthier (XII, 27th, 7)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 9)
Freya (IX, 37th, 7)
Faris (V, 42nd, 8)
Auron (X, 1st, 7)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 8)
Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 6)
Cloud (VII, 28th, 7)
Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 6)
Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 7)
Aranea (XV, 129th, 7)
Kefka (VI, 8th, 7)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 8)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 8)
Orlandu (Tactics, 34th, 6)

Really tough round oof

Lulu (X, 31st, 9)
Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 7)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 9)
Freya (IX, 37th, 7)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 9)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 8)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 8)
Ovelia (Tactics, 46th, 6)
Terra (VI, 5th, 8)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 9)
Agrias (Tactics, 40th, 7)
Cid (VII, 13th, 10)
Kefka (VI, 8th, 7)
Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 9)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 8)
Cid (Tactics, 34th, 6)

Lulu
Balthier
Barret
Tifa
Sabin
Auron
Hojo
Leo
Cloud
Tellah
Locke
Cid (VII)
Kefka
Zidane
Laguna
Red XIII

Round 3

Celes (VI, 11th, 8)
Balthier (XII, 27th, 7)
Rubicante (IV, 72nd, 8)
Freya (IX, 37th, 7)
Faris (V, 42nd, 8)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 8)
Prompto (XV, 123rd, 8)
Leo (VI, 51st, 8)
Terra (VI, 5th, 8)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 9)
Locke (VI, 13th, 8)
Cid (VII, 13th, 10)
Kimahri (X, 19th, 6)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 8)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 8)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 7)

This was a tough round.

Round 3
Celes (VI, 11th, 8)
Dycedarg (Tactics, 96th, 7)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 9)
Freya (IX, 37th, 7)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 9)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 8)
Hojo (VII, 30th, 8)
Leo (VI, 51st, 8)
Terra (VI, 5th, 8)
Ramza (Tactics, 33rd, 6)
Locke (VI, 13th, 8)
Cid (VII, 13th, 10)
Kefka (VI, 8th, 7)
Gilgamesh (V, 14th, 9)
Kain (IV, 21st, 8)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 7)

Last chance to vote for Round 3! We kickstart Round 4 in around 12 hours :)

Round 3 Roundup

Most Popular Characters - Cid from FF7 still leads the way with 14 points with Barret from FF7 behind him with 13 points. After that on 12 points are Tellah of FF4, Sabin of FF6, Hojo of FF7 and Laguna of FF8.

Most Popular Characters (All Time) – There's subtle movement in the Top 3! Zidane of FF9 is now on level points with Vivi of FF9, so they're both in joint third place for the moment. If Zidane takes at least one more point, he'll move into second place. This is the first time there's been movement in the Top 3 for 3 years, when Vivi was ranked 1st, Zidane was ranked 2nd, Laguna of FF8 was ranked 3rd and Auron of FF10 was ranked 4th. Speaking of Auron, he's also been eliminated from the game.

Lowest Drop in All Time Rankings – Golbez is still the biggest "loser", going down 9 ranks. I'd say this is likely to be the outcome of this year's game. I'll update this section if it changes or remove it otherwise in the next round.

Highest Rise in All Time Rankings – Dycedarg of FF Tactics has had a super game, he's gone up a massive 21 places this year! He's just been knocked out, but coming from 96th to 75th is impressive. He's had two super years in a row after long being a contender to being removed from the game entirely at one point.

Centenarians - No new Centenarians this round, and as I said in the last round, there's unlikely to be any more this year. Unless some miracle occurs, I'll remove this section in the next round.

"Biggest Upsets" – Number 1 ranked Auron losing to Edgar from FF6 is a surprise, being ranked 6th. Probably a bigger surprise however was Freya of FF9 beating Tifa of FF7, there's 16 places between them. If we're talking about big ranking differences, Red XIII of FF7 beating Cid of FF Tactics is the biggest margin, there's 37 places between them! But of course Red XIII is a newish character though so it may not count as a massive "upset".

We're making some changes to next year's game. Click here to find out more on how you can vote on who to include in the game! (Thread 227067)

16 characters left! Here's where it gets interesting! Who will make the Quarter Finals?

Round 4
(Key: Character, Game, Last Year’s Rank, This Year’s Points Tally)
Characters that joined three years ago are still in blue
(No FF15 characters remain so no characters will be in red going forward)

Hojo (VII, 30th, 12) vs Kefka (VI, 8th, 11)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 11) vs Laguna (VIII, 7th, 12)
Cid (VII, 13th, 14) vs Celes (VI, 11th, 11)
Leo (VI, 51st, 11) vs Red XIII (VII, 71st, 10)
Balthier (XII, 27th, 10) vs Locke (VI, 13th, 11)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 13) vs Freya (IX, 37th, 11)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 12) vs Terra (VI, 5th, 11)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 12) vs Zidane (IX, 3rd, 11)

Round 4
Kefka (VI, 8th, 11)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 11)
Celes (VI, 11th, 11)
Leo (VI, 51st, 11)
Locke (VI, 13th, 11)
Freya (IX, 37th, 11)
Terra (VI, 5th, 11)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 12)

hmm, getting interesting

Kefka (VI, 8th, 11)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 12)
Cid (VII, 13th, 14)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 10)
Locke (VI, 13th, 11)
Barret (VII, 33rd, 13)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 12)
Sabin (VI, 55th, 12)

Kefka
Laguna - so tough
Cid
Red XIII
Balthier
Barret
Tellah
Zidane

Round 4

Kefka (VI, 8th, 11)
Edgar (VI, 6th, 11) - this was really hard
Celes (VI, 11th, 11)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 10)
Locke (VI, 13th, 11)
Freya (IX, 37th, 11)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 12)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 11)

Kefka (VI, 8th, 11)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 12)
Celes (VI, 11th, 11)
Red XIII (VII, 71st, 10)
Balthier (XII, 27th, 10)
Freya (IX, 37th, 11)
Terra (VI, 5th, 11)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 11)

Last chance to vote in Round 4! Any tiebreakers will be put forward before we go into The Quarter Finals :D

Round 4 Roundup

Most Popular Characters - Cid from FF7's elimination means that Kefka from FF6 is now leading with 16 points. Cid accumulated 16 points too so despite his elimination, he did tremendously well. Behind Kefka on 15 points is Tellah from FF4 and Laguna from FF8.

Most Popular Characters (All Time) – Celes from FF6 and Cid from FF7 have both marginally moved into the Top 10, knocking Rydia from FF4 into 12th place. Cid has been eliminated though so chances are Celes will cement 10th place and move Cid into 11th, unless she gets a wipeout in Round 5.

Highest Rise in All Time Rankings – Dycedarg of FF Tactics's rise of 21 spaces remain the highest rise in the rankings, and is likely to be the highest rise this year. I'll remove this section in the next round unless someone else rises higher.

"Biggest Upsets" – Undisputably the biggest upset of the previous round was Tellah from FF4 taking out Terra from FF6! 5th placed Terra doesn't get knocked out easily, so for 37th ranked Tellah to come in and defeat her is a big deal. This is actually Tellah's best performance in the history of this knockout game!

It's Quarter Final Time! At this point in the competition we start to remove the statistics and talk more about who's left and how they've done in the past. Please welcome, the Top 8!

Celes – This is Celes’, third quarter final, and also it's in a row. She finished in 7th last year but the previous year she finished as runner up, in an all-female final to Rydia from FF4. Can she make it to her second semi final?

Freya - Congratulations Freya! This is her first quarter final and, naturally, it's the best she's ever performed. She's a big underdog in this year's game, but can she make an upset and get to the semi's?

Kefka - You could make an argument to say that Kefka is the favourite. Why? He's the only character left in the game that's won the whole tournament before, doing so 3 years ago. That being said, this is only his second quarter final. Can he make it to his second semi?

Laguna - Laguna is in his fourth quarter final, but it's the first time he's got to this stage for four years would you believe, when he placed in 3rd, his best finish. He's the only FF8 character left, does he have your support to make it to his second semi final?

Locke - FF6 are the "favourite" this year, with three entries in the quarter finals. Locke however is entering only his second quarter final, the last time was 3 years ago when he finished 7th. Can he get to the semis for the first time ever?

Red XIII – Red is a "newer character", having been introduced into the games four years ago. Despite that, this is his second quarter final, and in a row too! That being said, a "blue" character has never made it to the semis before. Can Nanaki be the first one?

Tellah - "You spoony bard!" Tellah, as mentioned before, has never made it this far into the games before. So along with Freya, he's a massive underdog here. FF4's last representative, can he surprise us all again and get to the semis?

Zidane - We talked about favourites with Kefka before, but really, Zidane is the true favourite, being the highest ranked character left in the game in 3rd place (actually, 2nd, taking into account this year's game tally). This is his fifth semi final, but also, it's his first in 4 years. He's never won the game before however. Can he finally take the crown? He'll have to enter his third semi final to do so!

Here we go, Quarter Final time!

Round 5: The Quarter Finals
(Key: Character, Game, Last Year’s Rank, This Year’s Points Tally)
Characters that joined three years ago are still in blue

Red XIII (VII, 71st, 14) vs Freya (IX, 37th, 14)
Kefka (VI, 8th, 16) vs Laguna (VIII, 7th, 15)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 15) vs Locke (VI, 13th, 14)
Celes (VI, 11th, 14) vs Zidane (IX, 3rd, 14)

Round 5: The Quarter Finals
Freya (IX, 37th, 14)
Kefka (VI, 8th, 16)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 15)
Celes (VI, 11th, 14)

Red XIII
Kefka
Locke
Zidane

Round 5: Quarter Finals

Red XIII (VII, 71st, 14) - this was tough, a toss-up really.
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 15)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 15)
Zidane (IX, 3rd, 14) - this hurt, two favorites of mine.

I think the first year or two that I did this I never voted for a single FF8 character. I guess replaying them did change some things heh.

Red XIII (VII, 71st, 14) ~I liked Red a lot. He performs too well for me to call him underrated, but he was definitely a bit of a hidden gem for me. I ended up defaulting to Cloud Tifa and Barret pretty much all game when the party build was standard, but for those moments where you were encouraged to mix it up, Barret, Cid and Red was my preferred backup team. In contrast, an FF9 replay hasn't happened yet, so Freya is a vague, distant, fuzzy memory to me.
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 15) ~We're getting to the point where my inclination is to policy vote against past winners, and Laguna and Squall were the two options who rose from being lumped into the all encompassing "I don't like FF8" void to become characters I really enjoyed.
Tellah (IV, 37th, 15) ~This was the toughest one. FF6 ended up being my least enjoyable replay, not because I disliked it, but simply because I remembered it so vividly from playing it over and over and over again as a kid that the experience offered me nothing new, whereas all of the others filled in memory gaps for me to one extent or another. (FF4 was pretty close to perfect memory, but there were still some bits that felt fresh to me.) Besides Kefka, who has already won, Locke was always my favorite character from that game, but Tellah feels like the more fun choice in my present perspective on the games. Yeah, let's do that.
Celes (VI, 11th, 14) ~And then this one just felt easy.

Freya
Laguna
Locke
Zidane painfully hard choice aaaaaaa...

A few notes before I reveal the Semi Final pairings...

- It's official, we'll be crowning a new winner this year!
- This is the first all-male semi final since the first year back in 2011.
- This is Zidane from FF9's best performance in 5 years. He's now a three time semi finalist
- Also, this is Laguna from FF8's best performance in 4 years, and his second semi final
- Tellah from FF4 and Red XIII from FF7 have never done this well before!
- Tellah is the second character from FF4 to get this after after Rydia went all the way to win it back in 2016
- Laguna is one of two characters from FF8 to get to the semis, the other is Squall who did it in 2011 when he became the first champ and he came third in 2013.
- Red XIII is the third character from FF7 to get this far after Sephiroth who came 2nd in 2011 and Cloud who came 4th in 2012. He's also the first "new" character to get this far in the game.
- FF9 has produced 5 semi finalists, the most successful obviously being Vivi who infamously won this game 3 years in a row between 2012 and 2014. Beatrix is also a three time semi finalist, she won last year and is taking a break this year, but before that she came 2nd in 2012 and 4th in 2013. Quina did it two years on the bounce back in 2016 and 2017, when he/she finished 3rd and 4th respectively. And finally all the way back in 2011 Kuja came 4th and hasn't done as well ever since.

We're almost there! Who will make the final?

Round 6: The Semi Finals
(Key: Character, Game, Last Year’s Rank, This Year’s Points Tally)
Characters that joined three years ago are still in blue

Zidane (IX, 3rd, 17) vs Red XIII (VII, 71st, 17)
Tellah (IV, 37th, 18) vs Laguna (VIII, 7th, 18)

Round 6: Semi-finals

Zidane (IX, 3rd, 17)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 18)

Zidane
Laguna

Red XIII
Tellah

Interesting. Feels like a very different mix than we've had the last few years!

Red XIII (VII, 71st, 17)
Laguna (VIII, 7th, 18)

Last chance to vote in the Semi Finals, as things stand we have one tiebreaker...

Zidane

Laguna

It's the final! :)



Route to the Finals

Laguna
Game: Final Fantasy VIII
Ranking prior to 2018 game: 7th
Ranking in 2011: 9th
Ranking in 2012: 8th
Ranking in 2013: 5th
Ranking in 2014: 3rd
Ranking in 2015: 38th
Ranking in 2016: 103rd
Ranking in 2017: 55th
Total Ranking in 2011 points prior to 2018 game: 116
Points in 2018 game: 22
Opponents in 2018 game: Mustadio (Tactics), Cid (IV), Kain (IV), Edgar (VI), Kefka (VI), Tellah (IV)
Interesting fact: This is the first time since 2011 that a character from FF8 has made it to the final, when Squall won the first ever tournament,

Zidane
Game: Final Fantasy IX
Ranking prior to 2018 game: 3rd
Ranking in 2011: 5th
Ranking in 2012: 3rd
Ranking in 2013: 2nd
Ranking in 2014: 5th
Ranking in 2015: 33rd
Ranking in 2016: 20th
Ranking in 2017: 11th
Total points prior to 2018 game: 147
Points in 2018 game: 20
Opponents in 2018 game: Vanille (XIII), Basch (XII), Gilgamesh (V), Sabin (VI), Celes (VI), Red XIII (VII)
Interesting fact: Zidane is the highest ranked character NEVER to have won this game, coming 2nd five years ago.

Who's your favourite character?
Laguna or Zidane?

Bonus Vote!
Commiserations to Tellah and Red XIII, who missed out on the final. However, for the first time EVER, we have a tie for third place! Both Tellah and Red finish on 19 points, what I want to know is, who is your favourite? The winner of this mini poll will come third. Note however, that the votes on this poll don't count to the final score of the individuals :)

Tellah or Red XIII?

Laguna

Tellah

Lalalalalalalalalaguna

and Tellah

Zidane

Red XIII

Zidane

Red XIII

DOUBLE TIE!! ...I'm so sorry

Last chance saloon! Would rather not have the final go into a tiebreaker..! :)

I imagine Szczepan will pop in eventually haha

Summon...Szczepan

Around 14 hours remain! ;)

Szczepan save us!

I've made this tiebreaker into a new poll on another thread which will last 3 days! Vote and get others to vote! :D

Thread 227998

Also, next person to comment Tellah (FF4) or Red XIII (FF7) will decide on who comes third in this year's game :)

Red XIII

Thanks feralanima, Red XIII comes 3rd in this years game!

Now for the poll to hopefully solve the main question...! :)

Oooof sry guys :((((( Well I love both charas, so I'm happy no matter who wins:)

Oooof sry guys :((((( Well I love both charas, so I'm happy no matter who wins:)

This is where you're supposed to say Zidane, lol

This is where you're supposed to say Laguna, lol

ftfy

It took a tiebreaker to decide it but we finally have a winner!

Congratulations, Laguna!


Statistics after the Eighth Annual Final Fantasy Character Knockout Game
- Laguna from FF8 is our sixth winner and continues the streak of a new winner every year since Vivi from FF9 won three years in a row from 2012 to 2014. Four different people have won it since that period of dominance.
- Laguna is our second winner from FF8, after Squall won the first ever tournament in 2011. He's also the fourth male to win the competition.
- Zidane is now the only character to get to a final TWICE and not win the tournament.
- For the first time possibly ever, we haven't got an outright leader of the rankings! Auron of FF10 is now in joint first/second with Zidane of FF9. Vivi has fallen to third. This is the biggest shakeup in the Top 3 we've had in over three years. That being said of course, Auron and Zidane, despite being joint leaders, both have never won the tournament.
- Beatrix of FF9, who took a honeymoon this year, has dropped two place in her year off going from 4th to joint 6th with this year's winner Laguna.
- Beatrix aside the highest ranked character not to register a single vote this year is Aeris from FF7. She was ranked 38th and as a result has dropped to 42nd, which isn't too bad considering the statistic.
- Rikku from FF10 continues her strange trend of ranking worse year upon year, she's gone from 17th to 19th, to 29th, to 39th, to 42nd to to 43rd, last year she was 46th and now she'll rank 52nd.
- Rydia from FF4, fresh off her honeymoon period was the highest ranked character not to get to Round 2. She was ranked 9th and has dropped to 12th.
- As stated earlier Dycedarg of FF Tactics has risen the most places this year, moving from 96th to 75th, a 21 place difference.
- Golbez of FF4 takes the dreaded "worst drop in rankings" trophy. Being one of the characters not to register a single point, he's gone from 63rd to 72nd, a 9 place difference.
- This year we had 636 votes in the game, which is down 730 last year. If you guys know of other people on the forums that may be interested in this format of game, maybe point them in this direction? Some of the people who used to play this game a few years ago are still on the forums, maybe they don't know about the game still being around? I dunno.

Quarter Finalists
Auron - 6 time
Zidane - 5 time
Beatrix - 4 time
Terra - 4 time
Vivi - 4 time
Laguna - 4 time
Celes - 3 time
Dagger - 2 time
Edgar - 2 time
Kefka - 2 time
Locke - 2 time
Quina - 2 time
Red XIII - 2 time
Shadow - 2 time
Squall - 2 time
Cid (FF7)
Cid (FF Tactics)
Cloud
Freya
Gilgamesh
Kimahri
Kuja
Lulu
Ovelia
Ramza
Rydia
Sabin
Sephiroth
Setzer
Steiner
Tellah
Vincent
Yuna

Semi Finalists
Beatrix - 3 time
Vivi - 3 time
Zidane - 3 time
Auron - 2 time
Laguna - 2 time
Quina - 2 time
Squall - 2 time
Terra - 2 time
Celes
Cid (FF Tactics)
Edgar
Gilgamesh
Kefka
Kuja
Lulu
Red XIII
Rydia
Sephiroth
Shadow
Tellah

Finalists
Vivi - 3 time
Beatrix - 2 time
Zidane - 2 time
Auron
Celes
Cid (FF Tactics)
Gilgamesh
Kefka
Laguna
Rydia
Sephiroth
Squall

The Winners
2011 - Squall
2012 - Vivi
2013 - Vivi (2nd time)
2014 - Vivi (3rd time)
2015 - Kefka
2016 - Rydia
2017 - Beatrix
2018 - Laguna

I've decided that from next year onwards I'll be removing the "blue font" for the characters that started in the 5th games. They've had chance to settle in now.
New FF15 characters will remain in red though.
We will determine new colours for characters returning to next year's games and to those joining us for the first time.

So here’s the big table of the results of the eight years combined for the characters, and the characters in order of official rank! At the end I'll separate characters who are leaving and returning/joining for the first time next year.

(Key: New Rank, Character Name, Game, Total Points)
2) Zidane (IX, 169) - this year's runner up
2) Auron (X, 169)
3) Vivi (IX, 158)
4) Terra (VI, 152)
6) Beatrix (IX, 141) - (last year's winner didn't take part this year)
6) Laguna (VIII, 141) - this year's winner
7) Edgar (VI, 134)
8) Kefka (VI, 129)
9) Celes (VI, 113)
11) Locke (VI, 111)
11) Cid (VII, 111)
12) Rydia (IV, 109)
13) Gilgamesh (V, 103)
14 Squall (VIII, 101)
15) Shadow (VI, 97)
16 Vincent (VII, 89)
17) Kimahri (X, 88)
19) Kain (IV, 87)
19) Ultros (VI, 87)
21) Cecil (IV, 86)
21) Tifa (VII, 86)
22) Balthier (XII, 84)
23 Dagger (IX, 83)
24) Steiner (IX, 81)
27) Barret (VII, 80)
27) Cloud (VII, 80)
27) Hojo (VII, 80)
28) Sephiroth (VII, 79)
29) Quina (IX, 78)
31) Kuja (IX, 77)
31) Lulu (X, 77)
32) Tellah (IV, 76)
33) Galuf (V, 75)
35) Freya (IX, 73)
35) Ramza (Tactics, 73)
36) Cid (Tactics, 72)
37) Setzer (VI, 70)
38) Agrias (Tactics, 63)
40) Faris (V, 60)
40) Rinoa (VIII, 60)
42) Aeris (VII, 56)
42) Jecht (X, 56)
45) Ovelia (Tactics, 55)
45) Leo (VI, 55)
45) Sabin (VI, 55)
46) Cid (IX, 53)
47) Irvine (VIII, 51)
49) Quistis (VIII, 50)
49) Yuna (X, 50)
50) Cid (IV, 49)
52) Red XIII (VII, 48) - third place this year
52) Rikku (X, 48)
53) Rufus (VII, 47)
54) Rosa (IV, 46)
55) Edea (VIII, 45)
57) Seifer (VIII, 43)
57) Seymour (X, 43)
60) Selphie (VIII, 42)
60) Zell (VIII, 42)
60) Sazh (XIII, 42)
62) Basch (XII, 38)
62) Gabranth (XII, 38)
65) Garland (I, 37)
65) Rubicante (IV, 37)
65) Lenna (V, 37)
66) Ashe (XII, 36)
67) Exdeath (V, 35)
72) Golbez (IV, 34)
72) Yang (IV, 34)
72) Fran (XII, 34)
72) Larsa (XII, 34)
72) Y'shtola (XIV, 34)
73) Stiltzkin (IX, 32)
75) Dycedarg (Tactics, 30)
75) Krile (V, 30)
78) Bahamut (I, 29)
78) Cid (V, 29)
78) Penelo (XII, 29)
81) The Emperor (II, 27)
81) Tidus (X, 27)
81) Shadow Lord (XI, 27)
83) Leon (II, 26)
83) Papalymo (XIV, 26)
84) Aria (III, 25)
86) Boko (V, 24)
86) Vanille (XIII, 24)
92) Astos (I, 23)
92) Chaos (I, 23)
92) Marilith (I, 23)
92) Firion (II, 23)
92) Prishe (XI, 23)
92) Thancred (XIV, 23)
94) Aphmau (XI, 22)
94) Semih Lafihna (XI, 22)
95) Yda (XIV, 21)
96) Alma (Tactics, 20)
98) Sara (III, 19)
98) Serah (XIII, 19)
99) Ricard (II, 18)
100) Unei (III, 16)
104) Desch (III, 15)
104) Lilisette (XI, 15)
104) Noctis (XV, 15)
104) Prompto (XV, 15)
106) Lightning (XIII, 13)
106) Lahabrea (XIV, 13)
- (some returning characters have changed the rankings from this point onwards) -
108) Ellone (VIII, 12)
109) Lunafreya (XV, 11)
111) Leila (II, 10)
111) Aranea (XV, 10)
113) Cid (III, 8)
113) Ignis (XV, 8)
115) Jihl (XIII, 7)

We say goodbye to these characters...
Mustadio (Tactics, 23)
Rafa (Tactics, 23)
Zemus (IV, 22)
Wakka (X, 22)
Tiamat (I, 17)
Gordon (II, 17)
King Tycoon (V, 16)
Lion (XI, 14)
Djinn (III, 13)
Hope (XIII, 13)
Niellefresne (XIV, 11)
Cor (XV, 6)
Gladiolus (XV, 6)
Yunalesca (X, 5)
Iris (XV, 4)
Ardyn (XV, 2)

And these characters are returning...
108) Josef (II, 12)
115) Xande (III, 7)
116) Barthandelus (XIII, 6)
117) Bartz (V, 4)
118) Kraken (I, 3)

And we say hello to all of these brand new characters, initially all ranked at 129th with zero points (not for long we hope!):
Edge (IV)
Cyan (VI)
Yuffie (VII)
Cid (VIII)
Eiko (IX)
Cid (X)
Eald'narche (XI)
Ba'Gamnan (XII)
Cid nan Garlond (XIV)
Cindy (XV)
Wiegraf (Tactics)

So that's it until next year! I'll be bringing this game back in around August time I think. But I might be back with another project between then and now... in around February time? We'll see...

There's nothing more to say other than to say goodbye to Laguna for a year! And to say welcome a return to...

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/a/a9/FFIX_Beatrix_Victory_Pose.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160720052909&format=original
Beatrix!

Thanks for hosting, and thanks for the stats! I think it's pretty neat how me replaying FF8 this year impacted the outcome pretty drastically.

I pull some off site support for my music game each year. If this happens to get back onto a May/June timeframe next year I can definitely pass people along to it as well!

Thanks for hosting, and thanks for the stats! I think it's pretty neat how me replaying FF8 this year impacted the outcome pretty drastically.

I know you're not the biggest fan of VIII, which is why I'm still surprised that you voted Laguna over Zidane. I know you replayed, but it's still a bit of a shock!