Timber

Lunatic Pandora was rather boring, and Marshall Law tops most location themes anyway.

Timber

Timber

Lunatic Pandora.

I kind of like the LP theme almost a little better than Martial Law.

Also I liked how the dream sequence had secret impacts which gave bonuses. Power Generator FTW.

Lunatic Pandora.

LUNATIC PANDORA

Decided to give this a little extra time because of the outage, but I think there's been more than enough now and I don't think anyone else is going to vote...


Timber - 5
Lunatic Pandora - 8


A good battle, and it's the Lunatic Pandora that moves on to the next round...


Great Salt Lake (Esthar's Great Salt Lake. The party has to travel through this area and eventually finds a strange device that leads them into Esthar. Along the way, they fight an undead monster. According to the backstory provided in the game's help section, this was once a beautiful lake, but is now just a barren field. Some have speculated that this happened due to Esthar's experiments.)

vs.

Deep Sea Research Center (A research station also known as "Battleship Island." If you put Zell in your party when you first visit it and choose to listen to what he has to say, he indicates that he's heard of it. Apparently scientists there were experimenting with hardcore GFs and the draw system. "To science geeks, it was treasure island." When you first visit it, you have to travel past a blue light and after answering a series of questions and fighting Ruby Dragons, you can take on Bahamut. Once you're done with that, another path will eventually open up. Head all the way to the bottom and if you have 10 RSP remaining, you can fight the Ultima Weapon, which provides the opportunity to obtain Eden, as well as Ultima Stones and powerful Ultima magic.)

Great Salt Lake

Great Salt Lake

Deep Sea Research Center

Gah... Hate. This. Choice.

I'll go Great Salt Lake, overlooked place, awesome music, and the transition to Esthar was probably my favorite part of the game. But if there's anything I associate this place with most, it's having Edea in the party.

Won't be disappointed if it lost.

Great Salt Lake

Gah... Hate. This. Choice.

I'll go Great Salt Lake, overlooked place, awesome music, and the transition to Esthar was probably my favorite part of the game. But if there's anything I associate this place with most, it's having Edea in the party.

Won't be disappointed if it lost.

Deep Sea Research Center

Great Salt Lake

Deep Sea Research Center

I hate it's gonna lose. It had Ultima Weapon...I loved him.

Great Salt Lake - 6
Deep Sea Research Center - 5


Really close one, but the Great Salt Lake claims the victory here. Very interesting-- I would have that the Deep Sea Research Center to be a shoo-in, but I guess not. The next battle is...


Tomb of the Unknown King (You're required to visit here, but only as part of a mandatory test that General Caraway sends you on. You have to visit here to retrieve the ID number of a student, and there's no cheating because the number changes in each playthrough. You're perfectly free to leave once you've got that, but if you choose to stay, you can eventually attain the Brothers GF.)

vs.

Esthar City ("Xenophobic" Esthar. Following Adel's being sent off into space, they sealed themselves off from the world. Squall and co. manage to make it here by crossing the bridge from Fisherman's Horizon and then trudging through the Great Salt Area that won the last battle. Esthar is a city full of highly advanced technological marvels. However, it is damaged following the Lunar Cry.)

Esthar City

Esthar City

They're both annoying to navigate, so I'll give it to Esthar City for having more story importance and a bigger selection of music.

They're both annoying to navigate, so I'll give it to Esthar City for having more story importance and a bigger selection of music.

It's a shame that once Esthar gets invaded and has encounters and Silence/Motion no longer plays, it's permanent for the rest of the game.

Tomb of the Uknown King

Esthar City

Esthar City

Tomb of the Unknown King - 1
Esthar City - 7


Easy victory for Esthar City. The next battle is...

Galbadia Missile Base (Selphie and two other party members are sent to infiltrate this base and stop a missile launch targeted at Balamb Garden. While unsuccessful in actually stopping the launch, they are able to mess with the controls to a sufficient degree in order to buy time for Squall and co. to move the Garden out of danger. [That is, unless you don't tamper with the controls and view the alternate sequence in which Balamb Garden gets blown to smithereens.] There are two ways to play it-- fight it out early on, or go for the stealthy method throughout, which will raise your SeeD rank. In any case, eventually you will be detected and have to rumble, at which point it comes time to set the place on self-destruct. You then have to fight a mechanized piece of junk, which Selphie and co. end up using to shield themselves from the blast.)

vs.

Trabia Garden (Or what remains of it anyway. Trabia Garden is in shambles following the missile attack. Many were killed, but the survivors are working to rebuild as best they can. Selphie is devastated to see what happened to the Garden she used to reside at, but finds solace in speaking with those who have survived. The basketball court is the scene of the big flashback sequence that many players of this game would rather just erase from their minds.)

Trabia Garden only for music. It's probably gonna lose anyway... but eh, not really a fan of either.

Galbadia Missile Base

Galbadia Missile Base

Agreed about the basketball court scene in Trabia. Plus, it was interesting to get some gameplay variety at the missile base.

Galbadia Missile Base

Galbadia Missile Base

It has Selphie as a main character. And I love how delightfully fucked up she is.
Woo-hoo! Let's just randomly hit a console in a missile base! Let's cause the missiles to land in other probably populated areas!

Galbadia Missile Base

Galbadia Missile Base

Galbadia Missile Base

More fun, less depressing.

Galbadia Missile Base

More fun, less depressing.

Trabia Garden

Not really a fan of either too, but still I dislike Galbadia Missile Base more

Galbadia Missile Base - 8
Trabia Garden - 2


A fairly easy victory for the Missile Base-- also, The Anti-Existence -- LOL at your comment about Selphie-- so true!

Fire Cavern (The Fire Cavern is the site of Squall's preliminary exam. Objective? Proceed through the cave and obtain Ifrit, a "low level GF." The Fire Cavern is not too tough of a trial, but does contain, among other enemies, the somewhat powerful "bomb" monster. The Squall/Quistis relationship is also developed here. The game gives you a choice of a time limit going in. The objective, however, isn't to complete the task as fast as possible-- in order to obtain the best score for this portion, you need to complete it with as little time remaining as possible. [And, due to a bug, the countdown continues even after the battle report screens appear, but you can no longer get a Game Over at that point.])

vs.

Ragnarok (As a location, you first visit here in outer space. Vicious monsters called Propogators are roaming the ship and you have defeat them in pairs by color in order to move on. Once you've done that, you can board the cockpit and in an emotional scene, Squall and Rinoa return to the ship to the planet. Once back on the ground, you take control of the ship as the game's airship. You can talk with your characters here. Laguna, Kiros and Ward board the ship and you can play Laguna in order to obtain Squall's card. On Disc 4 you can reenter the airship. If you completed the CC quest, you can play them at cards there. CC Joker also provides shop and junk shop services.)

Fire Cavern

After riding through the "we grew up together" plot twist, the Ragnarok pretty much made me want to quit. Its appearance was a lame deus ex machina, and then it wasn't even fun hunting down the Propagators in color order. :(

Ragnarok
Yeah it wasn't fun hunting the monsters in the right order but there are two other things that make me pick this:

1. Ride On (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpZ3lCJ1TVM)
2. The Squall and Rinoa Scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV52DvjX9rA)
God how I loathe them as a couple and yet I love this scene.

Well, I was going to vote for the Fire Cavern because I didn't know about the time thing the first time around, but then I watched the videos and nostalgia hit me like a tons of bricks. Thanks Anti, and I hope you can hear the sarcasm dripping off the thanks too!

Ragnarok

Ragnarok

Residents FTW.

Ragnarok

Ragnarok

Ragnarok

Its appearance was a lame deus ex machina, and then it wasn't even fun hunting down the Propagators in color order. :(

I totally agree with that, but after I leveled up a bit on the propagators I didn't mind it. I did like the ship quite a bit, and while it is pretty ridiculous that there would be a ship in space in the exact trajectory of Squall and Rinoa's drifting, it still wins my vote.

Ragnarok

... I did like the ship quite a bit, and while it is pretty ridiculous that there would be a ship in space in the exact trajectory of Squall and Rinoa's drifting, it still wins my vote.

Ragnarok

Well, except for a lone dissenter, it looks like the results here are pretty unanimous:

Fire Cavern - 1
Ragnarok - 9

The next battle is...


Centra Ruins (An optional dungeon in the Centra area with some nice bonuses to obtain. As soon as you enter here, a 20 minute countdown starts up. You have that time only to solve the puzzle for the area and then defeat Odin in order to claim him as a GF, of sorts. Odin also valuable magic for drawing, such as Triple, so if you have extra time, you should go for it. There's no penalty for leaving, though, while the clock is running. Odin will simply shout at you about being a coward and the clock will reset when you reenter. The other sideequest here is the Tonberries. Fight enough of them and eventually the King Tonberry will appear-- defeat it in order to obtain the Tonberry GF. It also has some good magic for drawing.)

vs.

White SeeD Ship (This ship is first seen pulling up to Balamb Garden while it's drifting out at sea and Ellone boards it. Later, Edea suggests you visit here to search for Ellone and provides you a letter. It can take a while to find this ship and once you do find it, they don't want to have anything to do with you at first. But you board anyway and it turns out that Zone & Watts are on here. You don't spend a lot of time here, but you do find out that Ellone traveled to Esthar. You can also claim the Shiva card here by giving the "Girl Next Door" magazine to Zone for free.)

Centra Ruins.

Centra Ruins
Not much competition here.

I admit the Fire Cavern was pretty lame, too. The right one probably won that round.

This time I'm going with Centra Ruins

Centra Ruins

Centra Ruins

Centra Ruins
Not much competition here.

A straight-up blowout here...

Centra Ruins - 7
White SeeD Ship - <font color="red">0</font>


The next battle is...


Balamb Garden (This is where you start out the game with Squall and it's the scene of a lot of the game's most important events. Balamb Garden is a training facility for SeeDs, located near Balamb. There are many different areas within it, including the classrooms, the dormitories, the library and the training facility. On Disc 2 it becomes the focus of a couple of major events-- the inter-Garden conflict and the battle between Balamb Garden and Galbadia Garden.)

vs.

Deling City (You actually first visit Deling City as Laguna and co. In the hotel, Laguna shares a night of conversation with Julia. Later, with Squall and his group, Deling City becomes the site of the Sorceress assassination mission. It's a dark town, the capital of the Galbadian empire, but it has a certain charm about it, nevertheless.)

Balamb Garden.
I liked the Sorceress assassination mission (stupid sewer level inclusion not withstanding) but the Garden civil war and then the battle between the Gardens were two of my favorite points in the entire game.
And we all know and love when the Garden Takes Flight. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFOgm-_FSuk)

Balamb Garden
Ditto to what Anti-Existence said. There's also this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCN-0b_qfXc).

Balamb Garden
Ditto to what Anti-Existence said.

I remember seeing part of the battle between the gardens in the TV commercial and thinking "Oh...my...goodness...This is awesome"

Balamb Garden

Deling City, easily!

Deling City

Under Her Control? YES PLEASE!

Balamb Garden for everything already mentioned ;)

Balamb Garden for everything already mentioned ;)

Balamb Garden

Balamb Garden

Balamb Garden - 9
Deling City - 2


So it looks like Deling City had a couple fans, but Balamb Garden is far more well-liked. Next up...


Trains (A means of getting from place to place. There are some sequences inside them. One of these is on the way to the first SeeD mission in Timber. You find one of the Pet Pals magazines there and the party encounters the first Laguna sequence. There's also a scene on a train when you're heading to Deling City for the sorceress assassination mission. Selphie adores trains-- she gets so excited by them that she will sing when she is on a train.)

vs.

Lunar Gate/Base (The party heads here so that Squall, Rinoa and chosen party member can be launched into place. Here, you learn about the cold sleep procedure, etc. Once the launch happens, the rest of the party leaves and there's a sort of earthquake thing that indicates that the Lunatic Pandora is heading towards Esthar.)

Lunar Gate/Base

Trains

The Lunar Gate/Base preceded the stupidest event of the entire game.

Trains :)

Trains
"Train, Train, Take Us Away
Take Us Away
Far Away
To The Future, We Will Go"
~song by Selphie

I dunno. The trains are just so awesome in this game.

I dunno. The trains are just so awesome in this game.

Wrong. They're always awesome.

Trains

Trains :)

Trains

Lunar Gate/Base

Lunar Gate/Base.

Trains

Trains

I loved the first mission with the Timber Owls in the train, especially with the timed movements above the train cars.

Trains.

Trains - 9
Lunar Gate/Base - 3


Not quite a blowout, but still fairly one-sided on this one. It'll be interesting to see if Trains make it past Round 2, though. We're getting close to the end of the round. Next up...


D-District Prison (Following the events of Disc 1, Squall and most of the others are imprisoned here. Rinoa is released and Irvine tries to take her away, but she ends up getting him to come back. Squall is tortured here by Seifer and a mean warden, but the party ultimately comes and frees him. D-District Prison employs moombas as servants. Ward worked here at one time and Zell becomes him during the Laguna sequence in which Laguna and Kiros are Winhill. His memories of his time as Ward prove vital to helping the party escape.)

vs.

Odine's Lab (Known as "O Lab" for short. As with a number of the game's locations, you actually first visit here as Laguna and co. Doc Odine has been holding Ellone there. Later, you visit there with Zell and Edea. Odine provides important information about how to find the Lunatic Pandora as it's traveling through Esthar.)

Whoa...tough one.
D-District Prison I guess. I positively hate the level but it has the Torture Scene which is one of the best parts in the game. I doubt I'll vote for it again though.
Remembering traveling the same identical screens 30 times or whatever still pisses me off.

D-District Prison

Pretty tough choice. I'm gonna have to go with D-District Prison

D-District Prison. I actually LIKED that stage... so many secrets. I thought it was cool how they filled in the part that Zell was Ward, wish they showed it though.

D-District Prison just to end this one quick

Pretty clear on the winner in this round, but I'll just add to it I guess.
D-District Prison gets my vote, I usually found it quite annoying but Odine's Lab is a bit boring.

D-District Prison

D-District Prison

D-District Prison

D-District Prison - 9
Odine's Lab - <font color="red">0</font>


That's a blowout. Wasn't expecting that for this battle, but you guys have definitely spoken. All right, let's move on...

Trabia Mountain Pass (This is the site of the Laguna sequence that takes place when Squall is visiting Rinoa in the infirmary. Laguna fights off a Ruby Dragon here using a gunblade. After this, he joins back up with Kiros [and Ward, depending on whether or not you've acquired a certain Timber Maniacs] and they have a straight up battle against another Ruby Dragon. Apparently you can visit this place again later on in the game as Squall and co., though there's not really much of anything to do there. I've never tried it.)

vs.

Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven (Popular destinations once you have the Ragnarok. Both are populated with some of the game's toughest monsters, all of which are at Level 100. Both are also loaded to the brim with draw points containing useful spells including Ultima, Flare, Aura and Full-life. The Island Closest to Hell is located near the Galbadia area and isn't too difficult to find. The Island Closest to Heaven is located off the Esthar coast area and is rather more difficult to locate.)

Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven

Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven
This wasn't much of a fight, though. Doubt I'll vote for either winner again.

Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven

I won't even try to remember, how much time I've spend there

Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven

Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven

Hmm... Trabia Mountain Pass. Slideshow ftw

Trabia Mountain Pass

Hmm... Trabia Mountain Pass. Slideshow ftw

Trabia Mountain Pass - 3
Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven - 5


Closer than I would have thought, but the Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven go on to Round 2. Next up...


Basement of Balamb Garden (The party visits here in the hope of finding a way to save Balamb Garden from the incoming missile attack. There's an oil stratum here with enemies that are weak against fire. You encounter a couple of puzzling areas here before eventually fighting bosses called Oilboyles. Then, you discover the secret of Balamb Garden.)

vs.

Tear's Point (This area here mainly has to do with the storyline. When the Lunatic Pandora arrives over Tear's Point, it instigates the Lunar Cry. If you visit it, however, you can find the Solomon's Ring, which, if you have certain items, allows you to gain the valuable Doomtrain GF.)

Basement of Balamb Garden

Basement of Balamb Garden

Basement of Balamb Garden

Basement of Balamb Garden

Basement of Balamb Garden

Basement of Balamb Garden

Okay, so that's...


Basement of Balamb Garden - 6
Tear's Point - 2


So not a total blowout there, but pretty one-sided. Now, the final battle of the round...


Obel Lake (A lake in the Timber area. There really isn't all that much going on here. However, there is a sidequest involving a shadow. You have to hum for him and agree to help him, then skip a stone many, many times. After that, you have to find the monkey in the forest and get him to throw a stone at you. Then, if you return to the lake, the shadow will start giving you rumors. Eventually, once you get all the stones from various locations, they will spell out a message.)

vs.

Deling City Sewers (A maze of sorts underneath the streets of Deling City. Quistis, Zell and Selphie end up in these after managing to find a way out of the Caraway Mansion. You then have to navigate through them in order to eventually get them to where they're supposed to be for the sorceress assassination mission. Enc-Half or Enc-None are recommended, as this area can be difficult enough to navigate without having to stop to deal with random battles.)

Obel Lake if only because he Deling Sewers absolutely murdered the atmosphere the story had been building.

Deling City Sewers

Come on, Deling City Sewers. I liked how they were mostly more linear than you'd expect and how they held some secrets...

Deling City Sewers

Deling City Sewers

Deling City Sewers

Deling City Sewers

Deling City Sewers

Deling City Sewers

Deling City Sewers

Okay, that wraps up the first round...

Obel Lake - 1
Deling City Sewers - 8


Here's what's left for the second round:


Balamb Garden
Trains
Deling City Sewers
D-District Prison
Galbadia Missile Base
Basement of Balamb Garden
Fisherman's Horizon
Centra Ruins
Shumi Village
Great Salt Lake
Esthar City
Lunatic Pandora
Ragnarok
Cactuar Island
Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven
Ultimecia's Castle


As always, you can check the updated results in the first post of the thread. And here's the first battle of the round:


Trains (Selphie: "I love trains. ... Train Train Take Us Away / Take Us Away Far Away / To the Future We Will Go / Where It Leads No One Knows."

vs.

Shumi Village (Specialist: "Hello, and welcome. Specialist is surprised they let you in. Usually, only merchants are permitted to come into our village. This is our negotiation table. This is where we exchange minerals with outside traders." Squall: "You mine for minerals?" Specialist: "Of course. You think we built a village 323 meters underground just for fun? Actually, there was a little fun in it.")

I would have to say Shumi Village on this one.

Shumi Village

Trains.
Gotta stick with my girl, Selphie.

Trains

Trains

Trains

Selphie's gone through a lot, but not more than a village of people that enjoyed digging a massive hole so... Shumi Village

Trains

Trains

Shumi Village

Shumi Village

Trains - 6
Shumi Village - 6

I do believe that's our first tie of this edition! Well, since it's the second round, we'll look back at the first round and whichever choice had the better score in the first round will advance here...

Trains - 9/12 = 75%
Shumi Village - 8/15 (previous tie) = 53%


So Trains easily takes the tie-breaker and will move on to the quarter-finals. Next battle...


Fisherman's Horizon (Master Fisherman: "Will you look at this? Lots of places I've been fishin' for years, all gone. Terrible." Squall: "I'm sorry...We were responsible." Master Fisherman: "Oh yeah...Well, don't worry about it, boy. Darn near killed me... Just kiddin'!")

vs.

Ragnarok (Airstation: "This is Airstation. Do you copy?" Squall: "This ship is the Ragnarok?" Airstation: "Whoa! Is this really the Ragnarok? You're in space, right?" Squall: "Yeah but, I have no idea where we are." Airstation: "Roger that! We can track you from here." Squall: (We can go home...?) Airstation: "Ragnarok...It's been 17 years!")

Fisherman's Horizon

Ragnarok! Residents ftw!

Ragnarok

Ragnarok
It's where the Big Reveal happens...you talk to Kiros and Ward and find out DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN
Laguna is Squall's father!!!!!

Okay, why not.

Ragnarok

FH is overrated.

Ragnarok! Residents ftw!

Ragnarok.

Ragnarok
Because the "Ride On" theme-tune when flying is awesome.

Ragnarok

Because it's obviously going to win and I don't want to vote for something that will obviously lose :D

Fisherman's Horizon

Fisherman's Horizon

Fisherman's Horizon - 3
Ragnarok - 8


The airship as a location moves easily on to the next round. We say goodbye to Fisherman's-- interesting. I thought it was a bit more well-liked than that, but only three votes.

Next battle...


Lunatic Pandora (Zell: "Here we go! Let's bust in there!" Quistis: "I wonder if we can get through." Irvine: "Ahh, don't worry about it." Quistis: "Are the machine guns and main cannon ready?" Selphie: "Rrready! Let's just fire like crazy and make a big hole, BOOM!")

vs.

Ultimecia's Castle (Squall: "Good. We all made it." Zell: "...Whoa...! So this is her castle?" Selphie: "Finally." Irvine: "I've never seen anything so creepy. You think what's-her-face really lives here?" Rinoa: "We've come this far. She's gotta be here.")

Hmm... you know, Lunatic Pandora, it'll probably lose, but I liked the secrets and how the dream sequence actually affected them. The only part of the past that Ellone was actually able to change...

Ultimecia's Castle

Lunatic Pandora
We got to fight Seifer and Adel there and they > Ultimecia in terms of antagonists.
The Biggs and Wedge cameo was cool also.

Ultimecia's Castle

Ultimecia's Castle

Rather tough one here... But still, Ultimecia's Castle for being one of the best final locations in the series. Besides, my soft spot for Castlevania has something to do here too:3

Ultimecia's Castle

Ultimecia's Castle

Ultimecia's Castle

Best music evar, also.

All right, gave this an extra day because of the forum outage, but let's move on...

Lunatic Pandora - 2
Ultimecia's Castle - 7


The next battle is...


D-District Prison (Rinoa: "Does this room look familiar?" Zell: (Of all the stupid questi... Hey? Whoa??? Wait a sec...) "I know this place! Everyone listen up! This is the prison that Ward works at! He's a janitor here! There's so many rooms just like this! It's got to be here!" Rinoa: "There's a prison for political activists in Galbadia... This must be the place where Ward works. Right here, where we are! I'm sure of it!")

vs.

Great Salt Lake (Squall: "...Somebody once told me that if you mention bad things, they'll come true. I know it's a silly superstition, but right now I want to believe it. So let's not talk about it anymore.")

D-District Prison

Great Salt Lake

Great Salt Lake

D-District Prison.

D-District Prison.
Horrible, horrible level, but has some great scenes.

Great Salt Lake easily

D-District Prison

Great Salt Lake.

D-District Prison

Great Salt Lake.

D-District Prison - 5
Great Salt Lake - 5


That last vote tied it up, so we're going to a tie-breaker. So, from the first round...


Great Salt Lake - 6/11 - 54.5%
D-District Prison - 9/9 - 100%


Well, that one is pretty clear. D-District Prison easily wins on the tie-breaker. Next up...



Balamb Garden (Selphie: "Sorry. I was kinda in a hurry. Oh yeah! Hey, did you just come from that class? Is......registration over? Woo...Oh, nooo... This place is soooo much bigger than my last Garden! Oh, hey, hey. I just transferred here. Do you think you could give me a quick tour of this Garden?")

vs.

Centra Ruins (Odin: "Excellent. Prepare thyself. The weak shall perish. The strong shall triumph. Prevail over my sword, and I shall grant it to thee. For honor...let us fight!")

Balamb Garden

Balamb Garden

Balamb Garden

Balamb Garden

Balamb Garden

Balamb Garden.

Balamb Garden yup

Balamb Garden

Okay, this one is obvious, so let's wrap it up and move on to another battle...

Balamb Garden - 8
Centra Ruins - <font color="red">0</font>


No support for the Centra Ruins in the second round-- Balamb Garden wipes the floor with it. Next up...

Galbadia Missile Base (Zell: "Let's just smash this baby!" Selphie: (Yeah, bust it up real good! But...) "It'll be a mega bummer if WE launch the missiles by mistake. So, should we hold back a little and just mess around with it a bit?" Quistis: "...That sounds good." Zell: "Tch...! Yeah, I guess...")

vs.

Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven ("Uses Bad Breath, which causes all status abnormalities. Be ready with status defences before fighting." - Scan description of the dread Malboro, which appears on both of these islands.)

Galbadia Missile Base

Wha.... I would have voted for Centra! Anyway, Galbadia Missile Base.

Galbadia Missile Base

Galbadia Missile Base

Blow shit up, Selphie!