The Official Final Fantasy VIII Rumble

<font color="red">Rules:

<ul>
<li>In each edition of the Rumble, a list of Final Fantasy VIII things that are related in some way (such as music pieces, FMVs, etc.) is compiled, sometimes by me, sometimes with the help of nominations.
<li>Battles are held one-on-one in a series of round until things get down to one final battle, determining the winner for that edition of the Rumble.
<li>In the first round, ties are broken this way — whichever entrant was winning before the battle ended continues to the next round. In rounds after that, tie-breakers are based on the percentage of votes than an entrant received in past rounds.
<li>Generally, each round is left open for 72 hours, but it might sometimes be more or less. The rumble is usually updated somewhere between 9 P.M. and 1 A.M. eastern time. Usually it won’t go any longer except under special circumstances. If an entrant is winning by a blowout of six votes or more, I will end that battle as soon as I notice it and a new battle will immediately commence. This number may be adjusted based on the overall voting pattern.
<li>Discussion is usually not allowed, however, you are encouraged to post your thoughts with your vote. This helps me to count the vote total without confusion. If you have any questions, please PM (private message) Agent0042.
<li>You are asked to put your vote (only your vote, not any other included discussion) in bold, although this is not required. To bold your vote, put b within < > or [ ] before it and /b within < > or [ ] after it.
</ul></font>

Current Edition – Stay Tuned…

Key:

Boldface = Going on to the Next Round
Italics = Currently Battling
Strikethrough = Eliminated

First Edition – Location Music Themes – The Castle
Second Edition – Bosses – Diablos
Third Edition – Greatest Moments – The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar
Fourth Edition – Locations – Ultimecia’s Castle
Fifth Edition – NPCs – Raine Loire

I want to do either Location Music Themes or Notable Quotes for the first edition. Cast your votes one which you want to see!

I missed having a FFVIII rumble too.

EDIT: Shit nevermind my comment, thought I was posting in the general rumble.

Also, does "Location Music" imply music with a location in it’s name? Or simply a set tune for a location?

Balamb Garden
Breezy – Theme of Balamb
Dance with the Balamb-fish – Theme of Dollet
Timber Owls – Theme of the Timber Owls base
Martial Law – Theme of Timber
Galbadia Garden
Under Her Control – Theme of Deling City
Fragments of Memories – Theme of Winhill
Jailed – Theme of the D-District Prison
The Spy – Theme of the Missile Base
Fisherman’s Horizon
Ami – Theme of Trabia Garden
The Salt Flats – Theme of the Great Salt Lake
Silence and Motion – Theme of Esthar
Lunatic Pandora
The Castle

Perfect! That’s 16. First battle…

Breezy – Theme of Balamb (This light tune plays in certain other locations at time, but it is mainly used most of the time as the theme of the cozy village of Balamb.)

vs.

The Spy – Theme of the Missile Base (This music lends a sense of intrigue as Selphie and co. make their way through Galbadia’s Missile Base.)

Both aren’t bad, but I’m going to have to go with Breezy.

Next battle is…

Timber Owls – Theme of the Timber Owls base (This quirky theme plays during the time you’re on the train used for the Timber Owls’s base.)

vs.

The Castle (Theme of Ultimecia Castle. This unusual theme could prove to be a dark horse contender…)

The Castle

Timber Owls – <font color="red">0</font>
The Castle – 6

No love at all for "Timber Owls." Next battle is…

Fragments of Memories – Theme of Winhill (This theme is kinda cutesy and nostalgic. It’s played in certain key moments in the game, including during some flashback sequences and in the workshop at Shumi Village as a permanent theme if you complete all the sidequests there. But it also plays throughout the Laguna flashback in Winhill and I think during Squall’s visits to Winhill as well.)

vs.

Silence and Motion – Theme of Esthar (This funky theme is a good fit for a technological city. I have no idea how far it will get, but I personally rather like it.)

BTW, Fragments of Memories is ONLY played in Winhill during the Laguna sequence… because, well, it’s the past. As Squall "Fisherman’s Horizon" always plays there. So… I’d not have included it… oh well.

Fragments of Memories – 4
Silence and Motion – 5

Close call, but Silence and Motion takes it by one vote.

Next up is…

Balamb Garden (You first hear this as Squall is walking with Quistis at the beginning of the game. A lovely sound effect in the FMV adds to its charm. It’s used as the main theme of Balamb Garden throughout the game.)

vs.

Ami – Theme of Trabia Garden (This is used as the theme of Trabia Garden and in at least a couple other locations. It’s essentially a tender variation on "Balamb Garden" and both, for that matter, are "Eyes on Me" variations.)

I guess I’ll vote for Balamb Garden just to get things moving faster… I kind of like Ami better but I wouldn’t agree it should be here…

Anyway, Balamb Garden for me.

Balamb Garden – 10
Ami – 1

Next battle is…

Fisherman’s Horizon (Just what it says– the theme of Fisehrman’s Horizon. It’s a nice, gentle theme that plays within the village. This theme was also adapted for Nobuo Uematsu’s Final Fantasy Songbook album.)

vs.

The Salt Flats – Theme of the Great Salt Lake (The theme played within Esthar’s Great Salt Lake area. It definitely seems to suit it.)

So "Fisherman’s" wins, but that one was rather closer than I thought it would be. Good to see some appreciation for "The Salt Flats."

Next battle is…

Dance with the Balamb-fish – Theme of Dollet (This lively theme is generally played as you wander about Dollet. I suppose it might be named such because the fish of Dollet do their own little dance with fish of Balamb? 😀 I believe this theme is also used in outer space.)

vs.

Galbadia Garden (It has sort of an ominous opening and then gains sort of a mysterious air. As far as I know, it’s used only in Galbadia Garden.)

Dance with the Balamb-fish – 9
Galbadia Garden – 1

"Galbadia Garden" only manages one vote. Two battles left in the first round…

Under Her Control – Theme of Deling City (This rather funky sounding theme is the normal walking about music for Deling City.)

vs.

Lunatic Pandora (The theme used within the Lunatic Pandora, obviously. As you might expect of such a weird place, it’s a weird theme. Electronic and beep boop and with dark, thubbing background tones.)

Thought it would be a bit closer than that, but "Lunatic Pandora" only manages to pick up 3 votes.

Time for the final battle of the first round!

Martial Law – Theme of Timber (This is the normal walking about music throughout Timber. It has sort of a quirky sound, but I suppose also sorta conveys the feeling of oppression.)

vs.

Jailed – Theme of the D-District Prison (This theme is played while Zell and the others are in their cell in the D-District prison. It’s sort of plodding, but certainly conveys the dismal sense of imprisonment.)

Anyway, Martial Law, easily.

No love whatsoever for "Jailed." It’s knocked out of the rumble and we move on to the second round. Here’s what’s left for that…

Balamb Garden
Breezy – Theme of Balamb
Dance with the Balamb-fish – Theme of Dollet
Martial Law – Theme of Timber
Under Her Control – Theme of Deling City
Fisherman’s Horizon
Silence and Motion – Theme of Esthar
The Castle

Remember, you can check the updated results in the first post of the thread.

The first battle for this round is…

Breezy – Theme of Balamb (Man on Bench: "So peaceful here. Yet there’s fighting going on somewhere at this very minute. Seeing you all reminds me of that. I’m not condemning you or anything.")

vs.

Silence and Motion – Theme of Esthar (Irvine: "Geez, how far does this go…?" Man: "We’ll be arriving at the Presidential Palace shortly." Zell: "WHOA…!!! How big is this thing!?" Irvine: "Esthar’s president must be a real big shot.")

P.S.: The blowout condition is now 4-0.

We have a tie!

Okay, let’s head into tiebreaker mode…

Breezy – 6/9 – 66%
Silence and Motion – 5/9 – 55%

Breezy through on the tie-breaker. Next battle…

Dance with the Balamb-fish – Theme of Dollet (Dollet Soldier: "Off-limits to everyone except Galbadian military officials! … … … Uhhhh……I’m so bored…Huh!!! O-O-Off-limits…to anyone except…G-G-Ga…Galbadian military… Shoot…I pulled a muscle in my leg." Squall: "Now’s our chance! Force your way in!")

vs.

The Castle (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.")

Dance with the Balamb-fish for me

Dance with the Balamb-fish for me

Double the votes for The Castle than for Dance.

Next up is…

Balamb Garden (Squall: "Well, this is it. Balamb Garden is pretty big. It’s a good idea to check where you want to go, and select it here.")

vs.

Under Her Control – Theme of Deling City (Squall: "Eliminate the sorceress. That’s our order. We’re going to head to the capital of Galbadia, Deling City. There, we’ll meet up with General Caraway to go over the details for the plan. Let’s get going.")

We have a tie! Okay, when we have a tie in later rounds, we go back to the results from the previous round or rounds. So let’s check the results from the last round…

Balamb Garden – 10/11
Under Her Control – 6/9

No question, Balamb Garden to the semis.

Martial Law – Theme of Timber (Zone: "There’s a VIP from Galbadia coming to Timber." Watts: "Super V-I-P!!!" Zone: "The guy’s name is Vinzer Deling! Our arch-enemy, and the President of Galbadia." Watts: "Vinzer Deling is a scoundrel!!! He’s a dictator, not a president. Not even popular in Galbadia, sir!")

vs.

Fisherman’s Horizon (Mayor Dobe: "We don’t want military organizations in FH. You rely on force to solve problems. That is in direct defiance of our principles." Flo: "We believe that any problems can be settled by discussion. If you reach a mutual understanding, there is no need to fight." Squall: (No argument there. Trite, and dull as hell, though.))

Closer than I thought it might be, but "Fisherman’s" wins this one. That’s the end of the second round! It’s semi-finals time. And here’s what we have left…

Balamb Garden
Breezy – Theme of Balamb
Fisherman’s Horizon
The Castle

And here’s the first battle of the semi-finals:

Balamb Garden ("<<About Balamb Garden>> -Balamb Garden Headmaster: Cid Kramer -Balamb Garden Proprietor: Master NORG -Balamb Garden was the first Garden built in accordance with Headmaster Cid’s ideals and dreams.")

vs.

Breezy – Theme of Balamb (New Assistant: "Boss, we did it. The Galbadians are gone, and so is their Garden. Thanks for all your help. Now the boss can rest in peace." Mechanic: "YO! I’m still alive, bonehead!" New Assistant: "Boss, is that you!? Oh man! I thought you were dead for sure! … … You know…I was wondering… If my boss had croaked, do you think he would’ve left me the shop?")

Balamb Garden breezes through, though "Breezy" did pick a bit at the end there.

Now to determine our second finalist…

Fisherman’s Horizon (Flo: "Wait! The Galbadians are here because of you, right? They’re after you." Squall: (Maybe.) Flo: "You’d better take full responsibility! It’s your fault!" Squall: (Fine, we’ll take care of them. I don’t like the sound of her tone though.) Mayor Dobe: "We mustn’t rely on them. They won’t be able to do anything without fighting." Squall: (Don’t tell me he’s going to try to reason with them.))

vs.

The Castle ("The title is…… It is too faint to read. The title of this picture is…… VIVIDARIUM ET INTERVILIGIUM ET VIATOR [In the Garden Sleeps a Messenger]")

Buuut, I guess The Castle.

Our final battle of this edition!

Balamb Garden (Squall: "Next, we have the quad, located in the West Block. There’s an event being planned there…" Selphie: "I know! I know! It’s the Garden Festival! It’s going to be great! I’m planning to be on the committee! You wanna help out, too!?" Squall: "Let’s just continue.")

vs.

The Castle (Squall: (This is it…Ultimecia is here.) (Get it over with. Fight her now) / (It’s too early to face her))

Balamb Garden – 3
The Castle – 5

And so our winner for Location Music is…

<font color="red">The Castle</font>

Okay, feel free to commiserate on the results of this edition, or suggest an idea for the next edition.

Hrm, I’ll suggest Monsters or Bosses for next one. If bosses, include some of the GF bosses as well.
Monsters should be more interesting here than in X…

That’s all I can think of right now

Missile Base/FH tank thing (don’t know the fancy mech names)
All the Castle bosses (or as many as you can fit I like them all the same)
Bahamut
Elvoret
Mobile Type 8
Iguions
Diablos
Sacred/Minotaur
Griever (should be seperate from Ulti…)
Fake President/Gerogero

They were very much a boss. Just because their card isn’t level 6 or 7, doesn’t make them not one.

The boss theme plays when you fight them both times. I’d say the second time in the prison cell is more of a boss fight, seeing as they take a while and don’t have any fight following, and both carry rare items to steal.

And yeah I didn’t forget the spider, I just ignored mentioning what was already mentioned. Though I’d gladly second or narrow down my nominations list if I knew how many you plan to use, Agent. I mean, there aren’t that many, you can get away with using just about all of them or less to even it! Not my call though I know, but I’m assuming you are limiting since we get to nominate.

The boss theme plays when you fight them both times. I’d say the second time in the prison cell is more of a boss fight, seeing as they take a while and don’t have any fight following, and both carry rare items to steal.
I wasn’t talking about their card level. But I forgot about the second fight with them when they were by themselves. I would consider that a boss fight as well. But not the first fight with them.

i think the seifer battle before adel with de cutting odin in half was great, but bahamut for me hes jus my favorite gf in de game, that mayor on the train was annpoyin too who did he turn into i forget 😛

I really find i’ annoyin’ wen da ppl talk like dis. Ya feel me dawg? YA DIG???

nn

In any case, I’m planning to start this in about 18-24 hours. So if anyone has anymore nominations, get them in.

Now that’s plain discrimination. Just because they were weak, doesn’t mean they weren’t bosses. But… I guess, I get Your point. So maybe lets just leave it at the battle in the prison alone.

Anyways, I basically just went with the full list of nominations with only one addition– it seems there just aren’t really all that many bosses in this game. Here we are…

Ifrit
X-ATM092
Elvoret
Fake President/Gerogero
Iguions
Biggs and Wedge (Desert Prison)
BGH251F2 "Iron Clad"
NORG
Edea (Galbadia Garden)
Abadon
Fujin & Raijin (Final Form)
Mobile Type 8
Seifer (Final Form)
Adel
Sphinxaur/Sphinxara
Tri-Point
Krysta
Trauma
Red Giant
Catoblepas
Tiamat
Gargantua
Ultimecia
Griever
Diablos
Sacred/Minotaur
Cerberus
Tonberry King
Jumbo Cactuar
Bahamut
Ultima Weapon
Omega Weapon

And now, our first battle…

Fake President/Gerogero (Cannon fodder? Once you’ve blown away the ridiculous Fake President form, Gerogero can be easily eliminated with a Phoenix Down or X-Potion because it’s undead. But unlike other FFs, your characters don’t have the Item command in battle by default, so if you don’t have Item, this battle could be more difficult. Gerogero uses a lot of status effects on your characters, though it’s weak against fire-based magic. Use this for an easier time. For winning, you receive 20 AP and perhaps a Zombie Powder.)

vs.

Gargantua (One of the many of Ultimecia’s servants, which will release a sealed power upon defeat. To make it show up, first you have to fight all three parts of a regular Vysage. Then a giant form called Gargantua appears. It likes to use Berserk and has a powerful Counter Twist that it uses against physical attacks. Its HP is on the low side for late in the game, only around 10 to 15 thousand. For winning, you receive 42 AP and you might receive a Magic Armlet.)

Well, it looks like we have a tie here. All right– here’s what we’re going to do– next vote that comes in from somebody who hasn’t already voted breaks the tie. If nobody else votes within the next… let’s give it about 12-18 hours or so, then I flip a coin.

Fake President / Gerogero – 6
Gargantua – 5

A somewhat surprising (to me, anyway) victory for Gerogero.

Next up…

Iguions (This battle is fought using Squall and Irvine. One of them carries the GF Carbuncle, so you want to make sure to Draw that. This two like to use Petrify based attacks, but aren’t very heavy on the HP–> only 127-1747. Summon Brothers works well against them. They give up 10 AP for a win, but no item.)

vs.

BGH251F2 "Iron Clad" (This is really something of a comic battle, though it can be a bit challenging, particularly if you chose a short time limit and the clock is ticking. This stupid piece of crap is what they send after Selphie and co. when they’re trying to escape from the Missile Base. It has anywhere for 4200-8400 HP and, therefore, depending on how well you’ve been working on junctions or other stats, could easily be taken out way fast. Being a mechanized menace, it is naturally vulnerable to lightning-based magic and summon Quezacotl. Brothers can also deal heavy damage. It gives up 20 AP for winning, but again, no item. It has a powerful beam cannon attack, but if you cripple it quickly enough, it can’t use it. Depending on how you fight it, you may get various bits of amusing dialogue from the soldiers that are manning it as you cripple various parts of it. The Iron Clad returns in Fisherman’s Horizon to briefly give Squall and his chosen party a hassle, but it’s in really bad shape and turns out to be only cover for Selphie and her returning team, who took shelter in it just as the Missile Base was going kaboom.)

I generally hate robot tanks with hard-to-remember names, but I thought it was funny how the twist is you were actually fighting Selphie and co.

Surprising, to me. I thought it might be close, but I expected it to go in the other direction. Okay, next up…

Tonberry King (This mutant Tonberry only shows itself once you’ve defeated a certain number of Tonberries in the Centra Ruins. Its powerful attacks include Junk and "It’s sharp!" You can draw Full-life from it. Once you’ve dealt it enough damage, it reverts to a normal Tonberry form and you gain the GF Tonberry, most useful for the abilities it grants.)

vs.

Omega Weapon (The ultimate baddie, certified as the most powerful monster in the world. Can anything possibly take this on in this edition? Well, here’s the first hurdle. This is one tough customer. It uses all sorts of powerful attacks, including Lv. 5 Death, Gravija, Megiddo Flame and the feared Terra Break. All of its statistics are very high. Strategies generally involve everything from making your characters invincible to pounding it with Lionheart and Zell’s Duel Limit Break.)

Tonberry King, seeing as it’s got a purpose and all and they hid it well. Plus, some of it’s attacks are funny.

Okay, same as Gen FF, I will allow some time for somebody that hasn’t already voted to break the tie. However, since nobody went for that with Gen FF, I am reducing the amount of time and so the closest point from 12 hours from now when I am awake, if nobody else has voted, I will go to a coin toss.

Next battle…

Seifer (Final Form) (Let’s just consider the final form. His attacks are stronger than ever, but he’s still a sucky opponent if your characters are halfway decent. And if they are, you should probably take the time to draw Aura magic from him. If you have Odin, then at the beginning of the battle, Odin tries Zantetsuken on him, but it fails. Then, at the end of the batte, Gilgamesh appears, saying that Seifer gave him the fourth one.)

vs.

Sacred/Minotaur (One is big and the either is small, but neither should be underestimated. Float magic is helpful in this battle. They have a paired attack called Mad Cow Special that does heavy damage and their normal physical attacks can be dangerous as well. But they’re not too rough if either your junctions are good or you’re facing them late in the game.)

Sacred/Minotaur was a frustrating battle and I barely ever used them anyway.

BTW, Agent, is "Seifer" represent all Seifer battles, or are you more than one encounter with him in this seperately?
Not that it would affect my vote now seeing as that part is the highlight of the Seifer battles, just wondering though.

Not to mention that losing Odin was no fun too.

Seifer – 2
Sacred/Minotaur – 6

Seifer only scrapes a couple of early votes. Sacred/Minotaur to the next round, easily.

Next battle:

Adel (She uses a lot of powerful magic, being a sorceress, including Meteor. She has well over 50,000 HP. This battle is also fought with Rinoa junctioned to her, which means you have to be careful to make sure that Rinoa remains alive.)

vs.

Cerberus (He is an optional GF battle [don’t miss him!] and extremely fast. You can draw Triple from him and he likes to use it on himself and then cast powerful magic. Keep the speed up and maintain your characters’ health and you should be able to take him down fast.)

It’s so weird how Disc 4 opens without any scene or dialogue or FMV, you’re just standing where you fought the last battle and can just start walking to Adel.

Adel – 4
Cerberus – <font color="red">0</font>

Next up…

Biggs and Wedge (Desert Prison) (I suppose you can consider them as a whole, if you want, but in this battle they’re stronger. They have somewhat more powerful magic and attacks and you can draw some good magic for them. They say lot of funny things, such as "What’s below lieutenant…?")

vs.

Ultima Weapon (You can win a hundred Ultima Stones from this battle, though it isn’t absolutely guaranteed, it’s just a high chance. Ultima Weapon also has Ultima magic for drawing. Its most powerful attack is Light Pillar, which it generally likes to use often and hits a single character for 9999.)

Papa^^^^ is that you?

Because they’re a much better boss than the other two. Not even sure why Omega lost since he’s the best boss in the whole game.

Easy win for Ultima Weapon. Next battle is…

X-ATM092 (Giant mechanical spider. It can never be defeated in the first battle and you have to run from it. After that, it’s up to you to fight or flee, but unless you’re very skilled, it may catch up to you a couple more times if you flee. If you do flee, you will get a neat FMV of Quistis shooting it down with a big ray gun, unless you do something stupid like hiding in the cafe. If you fight it, it’s weight against electrical attacks, so Thundara and Quezacotl are good choices. It keeps repairing itself, so you generally have to wear it down several times before it will be knocked off for good.)

vs.

Diablos (A GF battle summoned via the Magical Lamp. This one isn’t too bad if you know what you’re doing. He will actually Curaga the party if you draw Demi magic from him and he’s also vulnrable to his trademark attack. You can either fight this battle early in the game, or fight it later when your junctions are well maxed and make it really easy. But fighting him early has its rewards– access to abilities such as Mug and Enc-None.)

Fighting him early is realy fun

X-ATM092 – <font color="red">0</font>
Diablos – 7

Not even a shred of love for the giant mechanical spider. Next battle is…

Edea (Galbadia Garden) (The final battle with possessed Edea. Her best attack is Maelstrom. You have to fight lapdog Seifer to get through to her. She has Alexander for drawing. Other than that, she mainly attacks using high level magic, but if your characters are properly junctioned, it’s not too rough.)

vs.

Red Giant (Being a sort of Iron Giant within Ultimecia’s Castle. He has high vitality and spirit stats but is vulnerable to Meltdown like most bosses with these. He has a weird speech pattern that he employs when you use certain types of attacks against him. He is weak against Demi, Diablos and Cactuar. Usual Limit Break strategies also work well. He mainly attacks using strong physical attacks, but is surprisingly vulnerable to darkness for a boss.)

Are you combining all the Edea’s?

Tip: Get to the point.

Edea (GG).

Edea – 10
Red Giant – <font color="red">0</font>

Ifrit (The first boss battle the game throws at you is also a battle for a GF. Ifrit thinks a lot of himself, but it was a rather weak GF. Naturally he uses fire based attacks. He talks a big game, but will wither if you use Shiva on him.)

vs.

Sphinxaur/Sphinxara (Cannon fodder for another blowout? Sphinxaur seems to exist as the easiest boss to get to and to fight in Ultimecia’s Castle mainly to grant you a free ability. Only has something like 10,000 HP. The only thing possibly even slightly difficult about this fight is that most people will fight it using nothing but Attack.)

Bonus for unique design ( unlike the red version of Iron Giant… )

Hehe this battle is first boss vs one of the last bosses. Pretty intense.

Not even close! Does any Ultimecia Castle boss have a chance? Well…

NORG (Black sheep of the Shumi Tribe. He uses lots of powerful magics, but only if his orbs are red. Attack the orbs to change the color. He hides underneath a shell, which you have to damage to try him out. Make sure to draw GF Leviathan from him.)

vs.

Tiamat (A lost GF, twisted to Ultimecia’s ends. Some people think this may be the GF that Selphie drew, but forgot the name of. Looks cool, but for many players, it may not be the most intimidating boss. It has one, powerful move, DARK FLARE, which it can only use after it’s spelled out every letter.)

Tiamat’s supposed to be a GF? Where is this said?

EDIT: Oops sorry for posting…i didnt read Agent’s Message above. Sorry about that.

NORG – 5
Tiamat – <font color="red">0</font>

Abadon (Big undead boss at the Great Salt Lake. Often drops 10 Flare Stones. Uses a number of powerful physical attacks, but like most undead monsters, is easily harmed by healing items and magic and can be KOed with an Elixir if it has 9999 HP or less.)

vs.

Bahamut (One of the game’s many GF battles. Starts at around 10,000 HP, can max at 90,000. Uses Mega Flare and a powerful Claw Swipe attack, but he can be blinded. Mug a Hyper Wrist, drop is another Hyper Wrist and his card.)

Elvoret (Boss at the top of the Dollet Communication Tower. Blows away Biggs and Wedge. Has Double for drawing. Make sure also to get Siren from it. Uses Storm Breath [predictably, every three turns] and striking claw physical attacks.)

vs.

Krysta (Does any Ultimecia Castle boss stand a chance, or will this just be a question of whether or not this is a blowout? Anyway, yeah yeah, fight her to regain a sealed power. She uses Cyber Frost as a counterattack. You can draw Holy from her. Uses Ultima as a final move. Threatens that you’ll regret fighting her, but her HP maxes at 16,000. You can draw Carbuncle if you missed it before. Commonly drops an Elem Guard item.)

Krysta looked cooler, but the battle with Elvoret was more memorable.

Krysta looked cooler, but the battle with Elvoret was more memorable.

same here

Krysta looked cooler, but the battle with Elvoret was more memorable.

Elvoret – 5
Krysta – <font color="red">0</font>

We’re really breezing through things so far. Next up…

Ultimecia (Considering all forms as a whole. She begins with a relatively weak form and selects three characters at random to form your battle party. If you kill off one of them, she will eventually send them to the abyss and replace them with another character, thus you’re perfectly free to choose your own party in this way, if you want. Once you have defeated this form, she summons Griever and after you’ve finished him, she junctions herself unto Griever. But perhaps her most dangerous form is her final form, which uses Hell’s Judgment, Apocalypse, and if you let things sit too long, her power attack Great Attractor. On a sidenote, apparently Great Attractor has been adapted for Dissidia.)

vs.

Jumbo Cactuar (Er yeah, it’s a giant cactuar. Its best attack is 10,000 Needles, which it uses as a counter and is instant death. Starts at 33,000 HP, maxes at 330,000. Naturally weak against water, but usual standard will probably be Meltdown / Renzokuken– though as with all large bosses, the timing is different for the trigger. Will run away if you don’t kill it quickly when it has critical HP. Defeat to gain the useful Cactuar GF.)

Ultimecia is better.

Ultimecia is better.
Still haven’t seen her Great Attractor move yet :mad:!

Ultimecia – 4
Jumbo Cactuar – <font color="red">0</font>

Now that’s out of the way…

Fujin & Raijin (Final Form) (They take you at Lunatic Pandora. Raijin’s best attack is Raijin Special. Fujin is generally considered the more dangerous of the two, with a powerful attack that can reduce all characters’ HP to one and other generally strong attacks.)

vs.

Griever (Ultimecia summons him as a sort of GF. His attacks include Shockwave Pulsar as a finale, as well as claw swipe attacks and the ability to blow away stores of your magic. Apparently he, like Ultimecia’s first form, is also capable of absorbing a character into time and replacing them with another.)

Then so can Griever.

it looks like yet another blowout…

Fujin & Raijin (Final Form) – <font color="red">0</font>
Griever – 7

Okay, this is it already! The final battle of the first round…

Mobile Type 8 (When you first fight this sucker, it won’t give you the time of day other than to kick your party out of Lunatic Pandora. On the return to Lunatic Pandora, though, you get to fight it. It comes equipped with Left and Right Probes that carry stat-boosting items you can steal. Generally drops Laser Cannons. HP starts at about 30,000 and maxes at about 46,000. Attacks include Twin Homing Laser, Corona and Megido Flame.)

vs.

Tri-Point (Ah, here’s another one of them castle bosses. Can it break the streak of losing castle bosses, or is it just more cannon fodder? It uses a powerful Mega Spark attack, but only if the character hits it with the wrong element of Fire or Ice because they didn’t scan it first. Or just use standard tactics–> Meltdown / Limit. You can draw Siren if you missed it before. Other attacks are a claw swipe and rushing attack. HP starts at a pathetic 2400 and maxes around 22,000.)

Anyways….Mobile Type 8 because its a fun battle…and u dont need 40 Mobile Type 8 cards for one item.

However it’s sad that final dungeon bosses are being slaughtered so easilly :/ Maybe Trauma will do better.

Anyway, I guess I’ll vote for Mobile Type 8.

Mobile Type 8 – 8 (How appropriate.)
Tri-Point – 2

Castle boss once again equals fail, but at least it wasn’t a blowout this time around.

And now, our real final battle of the first round, and it’s castle boss vs. castle boss. This should be interesting…

Trauma (It’s accompanied by Dromas, which Trauma likes to drain HP from. It uses a "Bonk" physical attack and a Mini Pulse Cannon. If Trauma drains away all of their HP, it will use Mega Pulse Cannon. You can draw Leviathan from Trauma if you missed it before. HP maxes at around 34,000. One strategy is to simply leave the Dromas alone and go for Trauma because that keeps Trauma from being too dangerous.)

vs.

Catoblepas (Behemoth type, maxes at around 38,000 HP. Alexander can be drawn if you missed it. Uses powerfully strong physical attacks, mainly involving his horn, but is weak against water and earth magic. Uses Meteor as a final attack.)

Anyhow, hard choice but I vote for Trauma.

Anyway: Catoblepas.

People just don’t care about castle bosses, only six votes. Let’s move on to Round 2. Here’s what we’ve got left…

Ifrit
Elvoret
Fake President/Gerogero
BGH251F2 "Iron Clad"
NORG
Edea (Galbadia Garden)
Mobile Type 8
Adel
Catoblepas
Ultimecia
Griever
Diablos
Sacred/Minotaur
Tonberry King
Bahamut
Ultima Weapon

And here’s the first battle of the round…

Elvoret (Wedge: "Major Biggs! There has been a report of a monster-shaped shadow on top of the tower. Major Biggs!" Biggs: "Be quiet! I’m busy! This goes like this…and…Geez, what’s with these crappy old tools? And…and…Why do I have to make all the repairs!? AHHH!!!")

vs.

Diablos ("Too much sleep…Too weak…")

Elvoret – 1
Diablos – 8

Not much a battle there, really. Diablos to the next round, easily. Next up…

BGH251F2 "Iron Clad" (Private 2: "Let’s just get outta here!" Captain: "Can’t let them seize this MRV! Keep attacking anyway!" Private 1: "Yes, sir! I can’t control it!" Captain: "What!!!?? AWWW HOT HOT HOT!!! That piece of crap!")

vs.

Adel (Seifer: "Can’t go back now! I can’t go anywhere! The sorceresses as one! That is Ultimecia’s WISH!")

BGH251F2 "Iron Clad" – <font color="red">0</font>
Adel – 6

Next up is…

Griever (Ultimecia: "The GF’s true power… Allow me… To show you…! Griever! Make them bleed!")

vs.

Bahamut (Squall: "The Great GF…Bahamut." Bahamut: "…GF? I…? Using my powers… …It is you humans…I fear…")

Next up…

NORG ("Fushururu…I’M-DONE-FOR! I’M-AFRAID-OF-YOU! ME-WHY-ME…?")

vs.

Ultima Weapon (Quistis: "They invented so much in this facility…There must be something here." Selphie: "We made it this far! It must be a treasure!")

Next up…

Fake President/Gerogero ("I’m not the president. I’m what they call…a body double. All these rumours about the many resistance groups in Timber… You pass along a little false information and they fall for it… How pathetic… Seems like there are only amateurs around here.")

vs.

Catoblepas ("I am Catoblepas. What do you humans plan to do… Against the likes of me…?")

Yuna: You sound sad.
Tidus: Yeah, maybe.
Yuna: Wanna scream?
Tidus: Nnnn…I really don’t think that’s going to help this time.

Fake President/Gerogero – 2
Catoblepas -4

So it’s the castle boss by just a couple votes. I guess Catoblepas really has something, since it was the only castle boss that even made it to this round.

All right, next up…

Ifrit ("They have Shiva!? … Impudent humans!")

vs.

Tonberry King ("I…I’m sorry.")

Ifrit only acts tough when there is no Shiva around ;P

LOL. The mighty Tonberry King could only muster one vote against one of the weakest bosses in the game.

We have two battles left in this round. Next up…

Mobile Type 8 (Raijin: "We meet again, ya know!? We’ll take you on, ya know!?" Fujin: "NOW, NO FIGHT, NEXT TIME." Raijin: "That’s right! We have a surprise, ya know!")

vs.

Sacred/Minotaur (Sacred: "Y-YO BRO, THESE GUYS CRASHED THE TOMB! P-PLUS, THEY ATTACKED ME!" Minotaur: "oh, really…they attacked you? not bad for a human…" Selphie: "Tee-hee! The older brother is so cute!" Rinoa: "Wow, so the Elder is smaller…" Sacred: "Y-YO, BRO! T-THEY’RE MAKIN’ FUN OF US!")

And now, the final battle of Round 2:

Edea (Galbadia Garden) (Sorceress Edea: "I must say that I am impressed. …An impressive nuisance. Your life ends here, SeeD. Seifer enters. Worthless fool." Squall: (You’re not our ‘Matron’.) Sorceress Edea: "All SeeDs must perish!")

vs.

Ultimecia ("The price for your meddling is death beyond death. I shall send you to a dimension beyond your imagining. There, I will reign, and you will be my slaves for eternity. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.")

Ultimecia.

For a while there, it looked like Edea was going to run away with it, but then Ultimecia ended up taking the victory by one vote.

That’s the end of the second round! Here’s what’s left for the quarter-finals…

Ifrit
Adel
Catoblepas
Ultimecia
Griever
Diablos
Sacred/Minotaur
Ultima Weapon

And here’s the first battle of the Quarter-Finals

Ifrit (Quistis: "You haven’t been to the [Fire Cavern] yet, have you? You won’t be able to take part in today’s SeeD exam if you don’t pass the prerequisite." Squall: (…I was gonna go this morning, but Seifer…) Quistis: "Hm? Do you have a good excuse?" Squall: "…Not really.")

vs.

Griever (Squal: "That’s my favorite ring. You’d better give it back." Rinoa: "I’m sure it is. It’s a cool-looking ring. What’s this monster on it anyway?" Squall: "It’s not a monster. It’s a lion. Lions are known for their great strength and pride." Rinoa: "Hmm…great strength…pride……Kinda like you, Squall." Squall: "I wish…" Rinoa "Hmm… so this L I O N of yours. Does it have a name?" Squall: "Of course. … Griever." Rinoa: "So that’s what you call it.")

Anyway Ifrit, just cuz its a nice memorable GF battle at the beginning at the game.

IFRIT

Ifrit – 3
Griever – 5

Ifrit has his fans, but Griever is just more well-liked.

Next up…

Catoblepas ("Uses magic as well as physical attacks. Its skill with Thunder magic allows it to increase damage.")

vs.

Ultima Weapon (Selphie: "WHOOO-HOOOO! AWESOME!" Zell: "Looks like it has multiple levels…Is there something at the bottom?" "Yo…What the hell is that…?")

By being put up against another castle boss, Catoblepas managed to survive to the second round and then managed to beat its opponent for that round too. Will it be a surprise semi-finalist, or is this the end of the line for it? Cast your votes!

Catoblepas – <font color="red">0</font>
Ultima Weapon – 5

Next up…

Ultimecia ("I am Ultimecia. Time shall compress… …All existence denied.")

vs.

Diablos (Headmaster Cid: "Oh, and Squall, I forgot to give you this. It’s a cursed item, but if one with enough power uses it, it should be of great help.")

Ultimecia – 4
Diablos – 4

Ah shoot, now I have to break a tie. Okays…

Ultimecia – 4/4, 5/9
Diablos – 7/7, 8/9

That tie clearly breaks Diablos’s way.

And now, the final battle of the quarter-finals…

Adel (Laguna: "Huh?……Hmm…Okay, fine! We’ll accept your help. In return, we’ll help you Anti-‘Azel’ movement or whatever." Ward: "……" Kiros: "It’s ‘ADEL’. Start listening more closely, ’cause it’s getting embarrassing… …is what Ward would say. Can’t you see it in his eyes?" Laguna: "Yeah, sure, I always see it! But…who cares!? I speak with passion, from the heart! That’s what matters most.")

vs.

Sacred/Minotaur (Minotau: "the brothers, defeated…? mighty ones… may we join you?")

I expected more of Adel instead of just one boss battle actually. She didn’t really seem as powerful as everyone was going on about in the game if she was able to be beaten by a group of teenagers.

Adel just doesn’t have what it takes. The pairing of Brothers makes it to the semi-finals! And here they are!

Griever
Diablos
Sacred/Minotaur
Ultima Weapon

It’s a GF-heavy lineup for our semi-finals. The first battle…

Sacred/Minotaur (Sacred: "THE BROTHERS, DEFEATED… I GUESS WE’LL JOIN YA.")

vs.

Ultima Weapon (Zell: "Basically, they were tryin’ to develop a draw system like ours. They probably traveled all over the world to gather different energy and materials for their research." Squall: "……" Zell: "I dunno how the heck it ended up here. I heard they did some hardcore research here. They even used GF for experiments. To science geeks, it was treasure island." Squall: "……Hmm." Zell: "What? You think I’m BS-ing?" Squall: "No…" (Maybe I should give this guy more credit.))

Brothers has nothing on him.

Sacred/Minotaur – 4
Ultima Weapon – 6

Most interesting. Sacred/Minotaur picked up enough votes for what could have been counted as a blowout had I been on and stopped it, but then Ultima Weapon came on like gangbusters and is head into the final. It might have a tough time in that final based on that, but let’s see. What will be its opponent? Our second semi-final battle is…

Griever ("In Squall’s mind, the strongest GF. Through Ultimecia’s power, continues fighting without vanishing.")

vs.

Diablos ("A mysterious GF living in another dimension. Uses a powerful gravity attack called Gravija.")

I guess I’d have to go for…
Diablos
…not the easiest to say, but it was a fun fight no matter the level & he just ‘looks’ cooler.

Clocked up over 300+ hours, most of them being just getting to see Diablos.

Well, bit of a runaway there. Diablos looks strong heading into the final. And here it is…

Diablos (Diablos: "Who dares disturb my sleep?")

vs.

Ultima Weapon ("The strongest, ultimate monster. It’s said to be impossible to defeat.")

And so the winner of this edition, the chosen favorite boss is

Diablos

I guess there’s just a certain intrigue and coolness about him. Well, that’s it for this battle. I think I’d like a few days break before starting the next edition, but in the meantime, feel free to toss around ideas for what should be done next. Remember, the previous edition was Location Music Themes.

-The assassination mission at the end of disc 1, ive always liked that bit.
-Or, the part where the team attempts to make Garden move. I mean, it is pretty exciting how it happens.
-Or, the time your FIRST meet Laguna in esthar. Thats pretty interesting meeting someone youve been seeing throughout the whole game.
-The confrontation with Ultimecia. Come on, its nearly the whole point of the game.

Thats, all I can think of right now….I hope you find some use of it…If not,well thats ok 2.

…and last but not least, trying to find the White SeeD ship.

😐

When Squall saves Riona from falling off the Garden.

Finding out Edna is Cids’ wife.

When the Pandora thing is activated and that whole cutscene of the monsters descending from the moon.

-Going through the the time compression itself.

-The first time you meet Edea when she isnt possessed anymore and you learn about ?Ultimecia and Adel and all that.

The first time I saw ‘Diablo’ was pretty big for me.

Seifer’s betrayal and subsequent explanation as to why.

Finding out Riona is Julia daughter.

That part made me start liking the game a lot because it showed how missions were actually choreographed in this game which make them all the more exciting to anticipate, where as in the other games you just go along and take what’s thrown at you.

I don’t know if anyone mentioned these, but add the explanation of the Deling mission.

AND, Laguna’s step-by-step process of how to get to Ultimecia (that might be the same as "understanding the whole time-compression thing" as someone said).

With that, I’d like to also add just Squall’s crew and Laguna’s crew meeting face to face. That was also one of my favorite parts, until then I was under the impression that Laguna was dead or something, but he’s alive and well and the president of Esthar!

I was under the same impression as well about Laguna. Ellone kept saying she was trying to change the past and I thought it was weird that the past she was trying to change had to deal with Laguna. I assumed he was dead and she was trying to bring him back to life. I can’t remember if she ever said what exactly she was trying to change if she did at all.

I haven’t played this game in a long time. I need to :(.

Seifer Calls Zell a "Chicken Wuss"
Chased Out by X-ATM092
The Waltz for the Moon
Explanation of Train Mission
Squall Says He Doesn’t Believe in Evil
The "True Mission" of SeeD
Selphie and Co. "Killed" in Missile Base Explosion
The Garden Takes Flight
Revelation of Edea’s Identity as Cid’s Wife
Meeting Edea as Herself
Search for the White SeeD Ship
Launched Into Space
Activation of Lunatic Pandora
The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar
Understanding the Time Compression Process
The Party Confronts Ultimecia

I decided to go with just sixteen, using a mixture of most of the ideas suggested and just a few of my own. I think I got all of the best, but sorry if I missed out on anybody’s absolute favorite. Let’s get started!

Chased Out by X-ATM092 (The party is chased out of Deling City by a gigantic mechanical spider called X-ATM092, culminating with a fantastic FMV in which Quistis shoots it down with a massive gun.)

vs.

Understanding the Time Compression Process (Doc Odine, with the help of Laguna, provides a detailed mission briefing explaining how the party can travel through time compression to reach Ultimecia’s time, giving them a shot at defeating her.)

Oh, BTW…

I assumed he was dead and she was trying to bring him back to life. I can’t remember if she ever said what exactly she was trying to change if she did at all.
Ellone’s objective was actually to prevent Laguna from leaving to go look for her and thereby abandoning Raine in Winhill when she was dying.

"Elle wanted to tell me not to leave Winhill, no matter what happened by sending you inside my head. That way I could’ve stayed beside Raine in her death bed…To hold her when she called my name."

Ellone’s objective was actually to prevent Laguna from leaving to go look for her and thereby abandoning Raine in Winhill when she was dying.

"Elle wanted to tell me not to leave Winhill, no matter what happened by sending you inside my head. That way I could’ve stayed beside Raine in her death bed…To hold her when she called my name."

Ah, okay….did he in the end?

Chased Out by X-ATM092

After riding around for ages you find the path all the way down, and whats there, the ragnorak! and inside is the card club!

I really enjoyed tha bit, felt like a real exploration with a real discovery at the end.

Anyways…

Chased Out by X-ATM092 – 4
Understanding the Time Compression Process – 4

Well, it seems we have a tie. I really don’t want to just flip a coin this early, so I think will try Zak’s message and a send a PM to someone who has voted regularly in the past but hasn’t yet posted a vote in the current battle. That will be Solaris. Hopefully he’ll respond. But if there is anybody else reading who hasn’t voted yet and wants to cast a vote, go ahead and your vote will be the tiebreaker instead. If Solaris doesn’t come through and nobody else votes, then I guess it’ll just have to be left to fate…

Oh, and mellifluous tupperware (I know you told me not to call you that, but I think it’s actually one of the best ones that Sarah came up with.)– the answer to your question about Laguna is no. Ellone realized that it wasn’t actually possible for her to change the past. "You’re the one that changes. Not the past." She and Squall both realized that "What’s important is right now."

Also, Solaris is a girl 🙂

Okay, Understanding the Time Compression Process continues to the next round. Thank you for breaking the tie.

Next up…

The "True Mission" of SeeD (In a sequence in the D-District Prison, one of the guards presses squall for information on SeeD, threatening torture if Squall doesn’t cooperate. You can choose to either not say anything, or to have Squall lie. If you have Squall lie, he says that the true purpose of SeeD is to plant flowers throughout the world because seeing flowers saps people’s will to fight. "Then, we invade.")

vs.

Search for the White SeeD Ship (Squall wants to locate Ellone, so Edea gives him a letter to present to the leader of the white SeeD ship. But in order to present that letter, you’ll first have to find the white SeeD ship. It’s not easy, as it’s tucked in a small inlet on the Centra continent, and even if you’ve played the game many times, it can still take a while to locate.)

Ill say The "True Mission" of SeeD because it creates some suspense.

The "True Mission" of SeeD – 4
Search for the White SeeD Ship – <font color="red">0</font>

Next up…

Squall Says He Doesn’t Believe in Evil (As the party proceeds with the beginnings of the sorceress assassination mission in Deling City, Irvine asks Squall if he ever questions what he’s doing, wondering about the possibility of evil. Squall then says, to himself, that he doesn’t think there is any such thing as pure evil, only two different sides with opposing viewpoints.)

vs.

Revelation of Edea’s Identity as Cid’s Wife (Master NORG, who just seems like some big jerk, provides Squall and his chosen party members with some truly surprising information– that the Sorceress they’ve been fighting is the wife of the Headmaster, Cid Kramer. It’s quite a startling revelation, not the least of which because it’s accompanied by a couple of other bombshells and the party really doesn’t have much time to process it before they’re thrust into battle with NORG.)

the other part wasn’t much of a bombshell for me anyway…

This battle seemed to be something of a split between those who liked the Squall moment and those who couldn’t even remember it. In the end, the Squall moment just wasn’t able to muster enough to come back and so the Cid’s Wife Revelation advances to the next round. And we advance to this next battle…

Seifer Calls Zell a "Chicken Wuss" (While the party is in the car traveling to Balamb, Zell gets up and starts punching the air to relieve some stress. "Stop that… chicken wuss" orders Seifer. Zell seems really pissed off, but Seifer just laughs. Seifer decides that he likes this nickname that he made up and continues to use it on Zell throughout the game.)

vs.

The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar (Through flashbacks, the player gets to experience a good portion of Laguna Loire’s life, but what happened to Laguna after all of that? Well, turns out that not only is Laguna alive, he’s president of an entire nation, with Kiros and Ward as his most trusted aides! Once more, he was up with you in space and you didn’t even know it!)

I thought it was hilarious!

Decent battle, but the discovery about Laguna’s identity wins by three votes.

Next up…

Selphie and Co. "Killed" in Missile Base Explosion (Selphie and company are unable to prevent a missile launch. Not knowing that they’ve done enough to stop it from hitting Garden, they seemingly can only watch and then get blown up along with the Galbadia Missile Base…)

vs.

Activation of Lunatic Pandora (The Lunatic Pandora is activated at Tear’s Point. Via the Crystal Pillar, vile monsters are sent raining down to the planet from the moon.)

I actually believed in that "beeing killed" the first time it happened

The emotional scene wins over the more flashy one, though it was a really good battle. We’re clipping right along– just three battles left in the current edition. Here’s the next one…

Meeting Edea as Herself (Following the dramatic events at the end of Disc 2, the party pays a visit to Edea at the orphanage. There, they get to meet with her and talk with her as herself for the first time since when they knew her as "Matron" Edea in the orphanage, which most of them barely remember anyway.)

vs.

The Party Confronts Ultimecia (The party confronts Ultimecia. It’s time for the big battle. For her part, Ultimecia dismisses them as a "plague of lokusts." She promises "death beyond death" and tries to set the terms for the battle by choosing three random party members to begin the battle.)

Just seemed more of a big deal to me compared to the other.

Can’t believe I didn’t find this rumble sooner~

Ultimecia wasn’t nearly as scary or even powerful as i had imagined her to be. I mean she even had to use a cheap trick to begin the battle! that bitch. I GET TO CHOOSE MY CHARACTERS NOT THE ENEMY! WHAT THE HELL WAS THE MATTER WITH SQUARE WHEN THEY DECIDED TO DO THAT?!!!

Neither was Adel considering she was beaten by a few teenagers. Then again, so was Ultimecia….

Great, I had a point about it but it has appeared to have jumped out the window.

We’re not talking about Adel here. And at least she looked scary. And she was a bit challenging i suppose.

Meeting Edea as Herself – 4
The Party Confronts Ultimecia – 8

Definitely rather one-sided at first. The other choice pulled back quite a bit, but not nearly enough to have a chance at victory. There are just two battles left in the round! Next up…

The Waltz for the Moon (Squall claims that he can’t dance, but it seems that he just doesn’t want to dance. Rinoa ends up getting him onto the dance floor and although he’s a bit nervous at first, he ends up dancing magnificently as a beautiful waltz known as "Waltz for the Moon" plays. [One of the games many "Eyes on Me" instrumental variations.])

vs.

Explanation of Train Mission (Rinoa, Watts and Zone explain how to accomplish the train mission in detail, with occasional questions from your party. There are also some humorous moments– "Oh, shut up! I made it look like that on purpose. It represents my hatred towards Deling." Once the explanation is done, you have the option to have any section of the explanation repeated, or all of it.)

The Waltz for the Moon – 11
Explanation of the Train Mission – 1

Wow. I didn’t expect quite large a whomping when you consider that the explanation of the time compression actually won. But, there you have it. We move on to the final battle of the first round…

The Garden Takes Flight (The secret of Balamb Garden is discovered and the Garden takes flight, though it certainly isn’t a smooth ride.)

vs.

Launched Into Space (Space travel? Sure. Esthar has been sending people into space for years, so they’re fine with transporting your party into space. Squall and one other chosen party member undergo the "cold sleep" process and then are launched into space.)

Ill go for The Garden Takes Flight cuz its just a time when so much is happening and it gets all dramatic.

The Garden Takes Flight – 6
Launched Into Space – 0

That’s the end of the first round! Let’s move on to the second. Here’s what we have left…

The Waltz for the Moon
The "True Mission" of SeeD
Selphie and Co. "Killed" in Missile Base Explosion
The Garden Takes Flight
Revelation of Edea’s Identity as Cid’s Wife
The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar
Understanding the Time Compression Process
The Party Confronts Ultimecia

First up…

The "True Mission" of SeeD (Warden: "What then? SeeD wants to bring love and peace to the world…? Ha haha hah! Don’t make me laugh! You can’t fool me!" Squall: "W-We…steal the will to fight…Then we in…invade…" Warden: "…What? Hey!!! Watch him!")

vs.

Revelation of Edea’s Identity as Cid’s Wife (NORG: "Bujurururu! Bujurururu! THIS-IS-MY-GARDEN!" Squall: "NO! It’s not just yours." NORG: "Bujurururu! THEN-WHAT-IS-IT!? IS-IT-CID’S-AND-EDEA’S!? THAT-PATHETIC-MARRIED-COUPLE’S!?" Squall: "What…?" (The headmaster and Edea are married!? …I don’t get it.))

(The prison scene was pretty funny, but this was much more interesting for plot–and character–development, I thought.)

(Took ages trying decide, still unsure :|)

that thing with the flowers got me laughing pretty pretty hard the first time i played the game.

that thing with the flowers got me laughing pretty pretty hard the first time i played the game.

A somewhat surprisingly one-sided victory for the supposed "true mission" of SeeD. Let’s move on to the next battle…

The Garden Takes Flight (Quistis: "Squall, do you have any idea what you’re doing?" Squall: "I don’t know! What else can I do!?" "!!!?" "!!!?" "!!!?" Squall: "Missiles incoming!!!" Rinoa: "NO!!!" Irvine: "No way!!!" Squall: "We’re moving!?" Headmaster Cid: "I see…So this is the secret…")

vs.

Understanding the Time Compression Process (Squall: "Explain the mission to defeat Ultimecia." Laguna: "Ah, straight to the heart of the matter. Just like a workaholic SeeD." Doc Odine: "Iz it my turn?" Laguna: "Yeah. Make it short and easy to understand." Doc Odine: "I will talk however I vant!")

The Garden Takes Flight – 7
Understanding the Time Compression Process – 2

The other "explanation" sequence falls by the wayside. The next battle…

The Waltz for the Moon (Rinoa: "You’re the best looking guy here. Dance with me? Let me guess…You’ll only dance with someone you like. Ok then… Look into my eyes… You’re-going-to-like me…You’re-going-to-like-me… Did it work?" Squall: "…I can’t dance.")

vs.

Selphie and Co. "Killed" in Missile Base Explosion (Quistis: "It came quite quietly. I thought the end would have been more dramatic…" Zell: "I’ve always thought about when this day would come. Living a life full of battles…I guess you could say I was prepared… But when I think this is really it… Damn, it pisses me off!" Selphie: (…What are you all saying? …Squall chose us because he believed in us. I’m sure of it! We can do it. That’s what he thought when he made this team. Isn’t that right, Squall?))

Interesting. I didn’t think the Waltz for the Moon was that popular. It’s looking solid going into the semi-finals. We still have one more battle before we get to those, though. Here it is…

The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar (Squall: (Ward) (Kiros) (And that’s probably…) (What is up with this country?))

vs.

The Party Confronts Ultimecia (Sorceress Ultimecia: "Whom shall I exterminate first!? I’ll start with you three!")

What a twist O_O

What a blowout…

What a twist O_O

Ultimecia was rather dissapointing.

The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar – 10
The Party Confronts Ultimecia – <font color="red">0</font>

We shall now have a one day break and then the next round (the semi-finals) shall commence…

I thought so too. I didn’t really think she was such a bad idea as a villian, I just thought the final encounter was a waste of space.

The Waltz for the Moon (Quistis: "You really are an excellent student. Even that dance was perfect." Squall: "Thank you. … Yes?" Quistis: "So you’ll dance with someone you don’t even know, but you can’t stand being around me?" Squall: "…Whatever. You’re an instructor, and I’m your student. It’s kind of awkward when you don’t say anything.")

vs.

The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar (Laguna: "Hey there! Been waiting to meet you guys! You guys are the ones who were inside my head, right? Ellone told me. It was like there were some kind of waves running through my head. They gave us so much power during battle. We thought they were some kind of faeries flying over us. So I’m Laguna. President Laguna Loire of Esthar. Pleased to meet ya.")

i’m preferring this one although both scenes were quite memorable.

The Waltz for the Moon – 3
The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar – 5

Not a lot of votes, but the Laguna scenario takes it by a couple. And we go to the second semi-final battle…

The "True Mission" of SeeD (Squall: "…I…don’t understand…the question…" Warden: "Don’t mess with me! Edea says you know something! Now spit it out! Talk! What is SeeD all about!?" Squall: (SeeD…Aren’t we…mercenaries…from Balamb Garden…Special forces…?))

vs.

The Garden Takes Flight (Member No.109: "What the hell is this? Nobody told us that this thing can fly.")

What an awesome surprise!!

Even though the "True Mission" of SeeD was pretty funny.

Wow, did you sleep through the game while someone else played it? Both of those, well, at least the garden taking off, are major events!

Oh, I just realized you might be thinking those are song titles from the soundtrack? They aren’t, they are events. 🙂

I’ll throw in a ‘my bad’ hahah.

And I’d have to go with The Garden Takes Flight

The Garden Takes Flight (Junior Classman: "It’s so cool! Weeee! We’re flying!" Running Girl: "Hey, have you been outside yet? It’s amazing! Just go down the hall and check it out." SeeD Cadet: "It’s incredible! Go check it out!")

vs.

The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar (Laguna: "You know what I’ve been doing all my life, right?" Squall: "You were a silly Galbadian soldier. I didn’t like your attitude at all. But I understand the bond between the 3 of you. Then you changed, after you went to Winhill.")

Edit: Is it okay to change a vote? I saw "Garden takes flight," but was thinking about that GARDEN-to-GARDEN mid-air battle instead. That was cooler, lol.

The Garden Takes Flight – 4
The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar – 4

Ah man– a tie? All right, I’m going to give a chance on this one for any one person to break the vote. Anyone that hasn’t voted in this battle already will do. If nobody else votes by tomorrow night, then I’ll go to the normal tie-breaker method, but I’d rather end this by getting another voter…

<font color="red">The Party Discovers Laguna is Alive/President of Esthar</font>

So what’s next? We’ve done Location Music Themes, Bosses, and now Greatest Moments — anyone have any preferences on the next edition?

…I don’t recall if there was…

…I don’t recall if there was…

I’d certainly like to see GF’s or Towns in a rumble.

(I bet Aura would win in a magic rumble lol)

I’d like to see one of these two as well.

I say locations. Not just towns, all places.

EDIT: That or monsters. Those should be fun seeing as because of the whole leveling up thing this game doesn’t have a "species" system, every monster is for itself.

I second this.

And it seems that some have listed towns as well. Should they all just be together?

Yeah I just listed 3 of the most worthless and boring locations in gaming history. But they at least have some cools cenes to them.

Winhill – Laguna and Raine.
Prison – Seifer torturing Squall
FH – The Galbadia Guard about to punch in the leader asshole’s face. Sure it didn’t happen but for the second it looked like it would, I was so happy.

And there is nothing worthless about the places you mentioned, Anti. The prison was actually oddly one of my favorite parts.

I’ll add:

Galbadia Missile Base
Dollet
Galbadia Garden
Trabia Garden

Also can we have "trains" as a location? They were a lot of the time fun to explore and had interesting scenes.

Also excuse my advertising but to those who care I finally started the XII rumble!

The remaining locations:
Balamb Garden
Timber
Trabia Mountain Pass ( where Laguna was trying his luck as an actor:) )
Odine’s Lab ( or maybe should we treat it as a part of Esthar? )
Lunar Gate
Esthar Sorceress Memorial

btw What should we do about Lunatic Pandora from past and present? They were significantly different.

I dislike running around in circles. Which is basically all you do in Winhill (for the Laguna flashback) and you do this how many goddam times in the prison?

If it was up to me I’d say combine both Lunatic Pandora’s into one item. So what if they were different, they’re like two different stages of it.

Also Anti I was more referring to FH. That place in itself was awesome not just because of the events.

So it looks like we have 36 locations (and yes, I’m counting the Islands Closest to Heaven/Hell as a single location.) What I want everyone to do is each post a list of eight locations they don’t see themselves voting any further. From the total votes, I will choose the locations with the four highest vote totals to cut right away, whittling it down to 32. So remember, I need eight locations from each voter that you’d prefer to see out. Your vote will not be counted if you do not give me eight.

Why are you making us vote for 8? I actually like some of these.

…
Why are you making us vote for 8? I actually like some of these.

EDIT: Wait, the "basement" being NORG’s lair, or the place where you find the thing that gets it moving? I assumed NORGs but if not then I guess it fits. Anyhow:

Basement of Balamb Garden
Escape Pod Crash Site
DESERT Prison (unless this is just a mistake and not some other place)
Trabia Mountain Pass
Cactuar Island
Winhill
Sorceress Memorial
Galbadia Missile Base

btw I didn’t notice Desert Prison / D-District Prison thing before. Hmm.. If this was a mistake, then we will have only 7 locations to eliminate, I guess.

Chocobo Forests
Lunar Base Escape Pod Crash Site
Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven
Cactuar Island
Basement of Balamb Garden
Obel Lake
Trains
Odine’s Lab

So that leaves the following for the rumble:

Balamb Garden
Fire Cavern
Trains
Timber
Obel Lake
Dollet
Galbadia Garden
Deling City
Deling City Sewers
Tomb of the Unknown King
D-District Prison
Galbadia Missile Base
Basement of Balamb Garden
Fisherman’s Horizon
Winhill
Centra Ruins
Shumi Village
Trabia Garden
Edea’s Orphanage
Trabia Mountain Pass
White SeeD Ship
Great Salt Lake
Odine’s Lab
Esthar City
Tear’s Point
Lunar Gate/Base
Lunatic Pandora
Ragnarok
Cactuar Island
Islands Closest to Hell/Heaven
Deep Sea Research Center
Ultimecia’s Castle

And, as usual, that list is only for reference, but you can find the updated info in the first post of the thread. First battle of the first round:

Fisherman’s Horizon (It’s just a small connecting village in the sea, with an abandoned bridge leading to Esthar, but you end up spending a lot of time here. Balamb Garden crashes here after ending up in the water following its launch to escape the missiles. Fisherman’s Horizon is a peaceful town, full of skilled technicians who defected from Esthar. They are all pacifists, so they’re not pleased when the Galbadian army comes and Squall and the others take up arms, but it can’t be helped. They fix up Balamb Garden so that you can fly it properly and they also help to put on a concert for Squall and Rinoa. This area also has a fairly involved sidequest involving the Master Fisherman, his protege, and the Shumi in Shumi Village.)

vs.

Edea’s Orphanage (This location can be reached by Balamb Garden anytime after it becomes mobile, but if you do visit as soon as that happens, it simply won’t let you in. You first actually see it in flashbacks, in which the party learns that all of them but Rinoa actually grew up there at that orphanage, which was founded by "Matron" Edea Kramer. Later you can actually visit it following the important events at the end of Disc 2. When you get Rinoa back from the Sorceress Memorial, she suggests returning here. She and Squall make "the promise" in the flower field.)

Edea’s House marks the point when the story started to get cheesy. The only redeeming thing about that place is the music, which is better than FH’s. But still, FH rocks.

Fisherman’s Horizon – 5
Edea’s Orphanage – 2

FH the preferred choice– the Orphanage being hampered by the "cheesy plot twist." Next up…

Galbadia Garden (The party first visits here on Disc 1, following the rule that if they can’t reach their home Garden, they’re supposed to head for the nearest Garden instead. That turns out to be Galbadia Garden. It’s here that they learn about Seifer’s supposed execution. They also receive new orders here, to take on a new team member named Irvine Kinneas and head to Deling City to assassinate Sorceress Edea. Later, Galbadia Garden becomes mobile like Balamb Garden and this leads into the Garden vs. Garden conflict. The party boards the Garden where they face Seifer and eventually take on Sorceress Edea, who they now know to have been their "Matron.")

vs.

Ultimecia’s Castle (This is it– the home of the final boss. You have to split into two groups in order to navigate through. Along the way, the party can fight a number of bosses to regain their sealed powers, though technically you can travel straight to Ultimecia without unsealing a single power. In addition to all of this, the castle also houses the most powerful monster in the game, the Omega Weapon.)

I remember reading somewhere that when you’re level 100, then Omega Weapon is the strongest monster in all of the FF games. Which is totally true because he’s freaking hard at that level…

Galbadia Garden – <font color="red">0</font>
Ultimecia’s Castle – 8

And here we go with the next battle…

Dollet (Dollet is the site of the big SeeD mission. When you first visit it, it is under siege by the Galbadian army. It turns out that they’re after the abandoned communication tower. Later, you can revisit here, where there a couple of sidequests, including playing the old man in the hotel who carries the Siren card and will also let into a secret room if you beat him with some treasures. Also, this is where you must get the Card Queen to go to in order to lose the cards needed for her sidequest. The son of the artist that paints the cards is here as well and there’s an amusing series of sequences involving him and a bone he keeps drawing in his father’s paintings.)

vs.

Shumi Village (The Shumi Village is a completely optional location, but can provide some rewards if you choose to visit. One of the first things to note is that it has a pay for play Ultima draw point inside that regenerates quickly. You can take part in sidequests here that ultimately reveal a fair bit about the history of Laguna, the Village itself and also Fisherman’s Horizon.)

Ulti’s Castle or Balamb Garden should / will win.

And I’ll say Dollet. Shumi Village I feel had some potential that it never got around to.

I felt the same about that place too.

Well, what a surprise. Shumi Village gets off to a commanding lead, but then Dollet battles back fiercely to tie the score. Well, I’m going to go ahead and allow a day or so for someone to break the tie. If nobody else shows up who hasn’t already voted, then I guess we’ll go to a coin toss…

Draven, thank you. So that’s…

Dollet – 7
Shumi Village – 8

And we go on to the next battle…

Winhill (This location is first visited during the Laguna sequence at the start of Disc 2. It seems that after the beating that Laguna, Wird and Kiros took at the cliff, Laguna ended up here, where he was nursed back to health by Raine. In the sequence, Kiros pays a visit and joins Laguna on the "monster patrol" that he has set up. Raine runs a pub here and also looks after Ellone, her adopted child. At some point, Laguna and Raine get married and Raine gives birth to a child, Squall. As for Squall, he and his party can visit Winhill anytime after you gain the mobile Balamb Garden, though it’s entirely optional. There’s not much to do there, though there is a sidequest involving the supposedly haunted mansion.)

vs.

Cactuar Island (A great place to visit and get into battles with three or four cactuars, which provide 20 AP each when defeated. Also the place to find and find the Jumbo Cactuar. Defeat it to earn the Cactuar GF. You can locate this any time after you gain access to the mobile Balamb Garden, but you need to have the Ragnarok in order to actually pay a visit.)

I absolutely love side quests that are actually entertaining and worthwhile. Also, I’m surprised that Dollet garnered so many votes. I suppose it was one of the better-looking areas…

So Cactuar Island sails into the next round. Next up, we have:

Timber (Your party is sent here on a mission to assist the Forest Owls. Timber is under Galbadian rule, but there are any number of resistance groups, though the Forest Owls are the only ones that are really active. Timber has a TV station which is used to announce the sorceress. After the events that go down with this, the party is forced to leave Timber posthaste on the last train out. Sidequests involving Timber include a rescue on the train tracks and finding the Owl’s Tear, not that it’s anything much to write home about.)

vs.

Lunatic Pandora (Or "Pandora whatever," as Squall calls it. You first visit it in the Laguna sequence and the events there can influence what treasures you can get later in the game. Later, Zell, Edea and the rest except for Squall and his chosen party member visit Lunatic Pandora, but they are unceremoniously tossed out. Adel ends up being swallowed up by Lunatic Pandora and so the party boards it to go take care of Adel and initiate time compression. Here they face Fujin & Raijin, the Mobile Type 8 that tossed out Zell and the others earlier and Seifer. Seifer abducts Rinoa and junctions here to Adel, but they defeat Adel and with Ellone’s help, the time compression process is initiated and the party travels into the future.)

BTW, unless there’s any objection, since voting seems to have picked up, I’m going to change the blowout condition to 6-0. It’s currently at 4-0, but that was instituted back when only about 6-8 people were voting in any given battle at most anyway.

But I guess I’ll go with Timber.

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

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

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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

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.)

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.

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.)

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

More fun, less depressing.

More fun, less depressing.

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

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.)

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. 🙁

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.

Ragnarok

Residents FTW.

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

Ragnarok

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.)

This time I’m going with Centra Ruins

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.)

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

Under Her Control? YES PLEASE!

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.)

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

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

Wrong. They’re always awesome.

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

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.)

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.)

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

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 – 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 – 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 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!")

Okay, why not.

FH is overrated.

Because it’s obviously going to win and I don’t want to vote for something that will obviously lose 😀

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.")

Best music evar, also.

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.")

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 – 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.)

Blow shit up, Selphie!

Galbadia Missile Base

Galbadia Missile Base – 8
Islands Closest to Heaven/Hell – 1

Two battles left in this round, here’s the first of them…

Esthar City (Irvine: "Geez, how far does this go…?" Man: "We’ll be arriving at the Presidential Palace shortly." Zell: "WHOA…!!! How big is this thing!?" Irvine: "Esthar’s president must be a real big shot.")

vs.

Cactuar Island ("Some Cactuars live long lives and grow huge. This Jumbo Cactuar is one of those." – Scan description, Jumbo Cactuar)

Esthar City – 8
Cactuar Island – <font color="red">0</font>

Annnd the final battle of the round…

Deling City Sewers (Quistis: "??? Did we get…locked in?" Selphie: "…That Caraway guy!?" Zell: "We’re smack dab in the middle of a family quarrel here!")

vs.

Basement of Balamb Garden (Squall: (…A dead end?) Zell: "Man, another ladder…" Quistis: "I guess we have no choice but up." Rinoa: "I wonder where this thing goes?")

I hate the other one. I got lost there for several weeks when I first started playing the game.

The Deling City Sewers are possibly the worst thing in all of FF8. No joke. The level isn’t interesting, it completely derails the atmosphere of the super awesome assassination subplot and it’s a fucking sewer level.

Deling City Sewers – 3
Basement of Balamb Garden – 7

And that ends that round! Here’s what’s left for the quarter-finals…

Balamb Garden
Trains
D-District Prison
Galbadia Missile Base
Basement of Balamb Garden
Esthar City
Ragnarok
Ultimecia’s Castle

As always, you can view the updated results in the first post of the thread.

And the first battle of the round is…

Galbadia Missile Base (Selphie: (Yikes! There’s someone there! What to do…What to do…) … … "It might look suspicious if we run. Let’s just walk by here!" Guard: "Hey! You! Stop right there!" Selphie: (Yikes! Do we look THAT suspicious!?) Guard: "Hah! Walking in single file… …Your parents must have raised you well. That’s very good manners! Always be thankful to your parents for bringing you up!" Selphie: "Yes, sir…" (Wow, that was weird…What a strange man…))

vs.

Ragnarok (Xu: "Squall! Oh, am I glad to see you! I wanted Squall to play cards with the CC group members. And when I got here…no one was around. Then all that ruckus started outside. What on earth is going on? Is this all because of that Sorceress Ultimecia?" Squall: "Yeah, time compression is starting. We have to kill Ultimecia before she begins compressing time in this world." Xu: "Hmmm…Sounds serious. Go kick some butt!!! Oh, Squall. Since the CC members are all here… Why don’t you play a hand with us? We all learned rules from around the world. And Quistis…I mean Cardmaster King will play in the airlock.")

Closer than I thought, but Ragnarok wins by a couple votes. Okay, let’s continue with…

Balamb Garden (Rinoa: "What’s over here?" Squall: "The cafeteria." Rinoa: "What about over there?" Squall: "The parking lot." Rinoa: "Squall…I really appreciate you showing me around. But can you try to make it a little more fun? You know, like a normal tour?" Squall: (What does she want from me?))

vs.

Trains (Irvine: "No one understands me… Sharpshooters are loners by nature… We hone our instincts, pour our whole being into a single bullet. The pressure of the moment…An instant of tension… That’s what…I have to face alone… …It’s not easy. So like… Just do me a favour, and let me be! You get my drift?" (Zell punches the floor of the train, apparently causing a vibration that can be felt throughout.) Train Announcement: "Err, there was no damage to the train from that, err, minor vibration… I, uh…repeat… Err, there was no damage to the train from that, err, minor vibration…")

I’m guessing there’s a clear favorite here, but I suppose we’ll find out. Personally, I’m kind of surprised "Trains" made it this far, so who knows…

So Balamb Garden wins, but Trains ended up with a pretty good showing. Next up…

D-District Prison (Selphie: "Heeey, so what are we going to do now?" Squall: "Well, there’s a door over there." Quistis: "And?" Squall: "……Let’s check it out." Selphie: "Can we get out?" Quistis: "If only we could get out of here…" Squall: "Sand…?" Quistis: "…… Buried…? You mean we’re underground? In any case, we can’t get out from here…")

vs.

Ultimecia’s Castle (Sorceress Ultimecia: "…SeeD… SeeD……SeeD…… SeeD, SeeD, SeeD! Kurse all SeeDs. Swarming like lokusts akross generations. You disgust me. The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive ‘time-compression’.")

D-District Prison – <font color="red">0</font>
Ultimecia’s Castle – 9

Final battle of the quarter-finals…

Basement of Balamb Garden (Zell: "What the heck are you doin’?" Quistis: "Squall, do you have any idea what you’re doing?" Squall: "I don’t know! What else can I do!?")

vs.

Esthar City (Squall: (What an incredible city…))

Could this be another blowout? Cast your votes!

I really do love the quote button <3

I really do love the quote button <3

Solaris, I think you just might be the most quoted member on here =P .

Basement of Balamb Garden – <font color="red">0</font>
Esthar City – 8

Here’s what’s left for the semi-finals:

Balamb Garden
Esthar City
Ragnarok
Ultimecia’s Castle

And here’s the first battle of the semi-finals:

Ragnarok (Rinoa: "Even if Ultimecia is defeated, it won’t change the fact that she was born. My powers will be carried on across generations and eventually reach Ultimecia. What does it mean to inherit Ultimecia’s power?")

vs.

Ultimecia’s Castle (Various Monsters: "Face my wrath for seeking thy sealed power…")

Ragnarok – 5
Ultimecia’s Castle – 5

Started out as an early lead for Ultimecia’s Castle, but ended up as a tie. So, we’ll have to go to the tie-breaker…

Ragnarok – 9/10, 8/11, 5/8 = 90%, 73%, 62.5% = 75.2%
Ultimecia’s Castle – 8/8, 7/9, 9/9 = 100%, 78%, 100% = 92.6%

Ultimecia’s Castle easily takes the tie-breaker! And that takes us to the second semi-final battle…

Balamb Garden (GARDEN SQUARE – "Your opinions are important to make our Garden a better place. Write them down and place them in the drop box." "I got first! Trepies forever, baby. Man, I wanna go out with her." – Trepe Groupie #1 "Hey! Trepe Groupie #1, you gotta name, dumbass?" "I’m gonna kick your ass. What’s your name?" "Oh I’m so scared. I’m sooo scared! Big loser." "I should kick both of your sorry asses. This is not for your silly games, got it?" – Xu)

vs.

Esthar City (Nida: "Have you decided on a destination?" Squall: "Esthar." Nida: "Oh man… Xenophobic Esthar. That area’s terrain is not really suited for flying the Garden." Squall: "Anyway, set a course for Esthar.")

Balamb Garden – 6
Esthar City – 5

Turned out to be a close one, but it’s Balamb Garden on to the final battle of this edition. And here it is…

Balamb Garden (Headmaster Cid: "One day, Edea began talking about building the Garden and training SeeD. I became obsessed with that plan. But I was very concerned with SeeD’s goal, that one day SeeD might fight Edea… She laughed and told me that would never happen. However…")

vs.

Ultimecia’s Castle (Squall: "Ultimecia’s reign…We have to end it now.")

This is to determine the winner… cast your votes!

Balamb Garden – 4
Ultimecia’s Castle – 6

Making our big winner…

<font color="red">Ultimecia’s Castle</font>

Seems quite a few of the voters here are fans of the place– its location theme was the winner of the first edition of this rumble.

And that’s it for this edition. New edition will probably start in maybe a week or so. In the meantime, if anyone wants to post ideas for what should be done next, go ahead.

Otherwise, ENEMIES…

Cid Kramer
Xu
Julia
Raine
Raijin/Fujin
Biggs/Wedge
Zone/Watts
NORG
Martine
Library Girl with a Pigtail
Card Queen
Nida
Dr. Kadowaki
Dr. Odine
Ultimecia (well, she isn’t playable alright, but if you won’t use her I understand)
Adel
General Caraway
Vinzer Deling

Ellone (Past/Present)
FH Mayor/Flo
Grease Monkey
Shumi Village Artisan
Selphie’s friend from Trabia (she has a name, but I forget it at the moment)
President’s Aide
Piet
Zell’s Ma
Big Bad Rascal

Also, we should determine whether we should include characters from the past, too. For instance, Child Squall or Matron.

Edit: About Child Squall and Matron – I would be rather against it. They are still parts of one and the same Squall and Edea, who are not NPC’s.

What about vehicles used in the game?

What about vehicles used in the game?

I think we already have decided on a category. Also, the two things you said, there aren’t enough of them.

Dr. Kadowaki
Ellone
Cid Kramer
Raijin
Fujin
Library Girl with a Pigtail
Ma Dincht
Big Bad Rascal
Queen of Cards
Xu
Biggs/Wedge
Nida
Julia
Zone
Watts
Galbadia Garden Push-Up Boy
Martine
General Caraway
Vinzer Deling
Raine
Moombas
NORG
Master Fisherman/Fisherkid
Mayor Dobe/Flo
Grease Monkey
Shumi Village Artisan
Selphie’s Friend
Ultimecia
Presidential Aide
Dr. Odine
Piet
Adel

Let’s get started, then! First battle…

Ma Dincht (Or "Zell’s Ma." She lives in Balamb and looked after him before he started attending Balamb Garden. She carries Zell’s Triple Triad card. She holds down the fort, provides the party with info and keeps people safe when the Galbadian soldiers come to Balamb to search for Ellone.)

vs.

General Caraway (Rinoa’s father, but she’s disassociated herself with him, as she’s the leader of a rebel group and he’s a general in the hated Galbadian government. Lives in a mansion in Deling City. He briefs the team in a mission to assassinate Sorceress Edea, but not before sending them on an errand to the Tomb of the Unknown King. Dismissed of his duties following the failed assassination attempt. He carries Rinoa’s card, but will only play it under a certain condition.)

Ma Dincht – 4
General Caraway – 1

The next battle…

Cid Kramer (Headmaster of Balamb Garden. You first meet in very early in the game when he gives the briefing on the exam. A lot of the time, he seems to come across as a bit of a doddering old fool. You eventually learn that he founded Garden with his wife, Edea, but his dream started to get lost when he turned to NORG for funding. He ends up putting Squall in command of Garden and, from Disc 3 onwards, spends his time in the orphanage by the sea.)

vs.

Dr. Odine (Genius scientist that resides in Esthar. Famous for research into the area of magic. He studied Ellone’s power and created the prototype for the "Junction Machine Ellone." The party visits Esthar in Disc 3 to seek him out in the hope of removing Edea’s sorceress powers, only to learn that they’ve already been transferred to someone else– Rinoa. In the English language version, he speaks with a weird, German-like accent.)