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Hey all!

It was a lot of fun but the Final Fantasy Music Contest has come to a close. As you have probably seen from the brackets and threads, the final winner of the contest was FF6 - Dancing Mad, edging out FF6 - Terra for the victory, 25-22. Along the way it took out some of CoN's favorites - underdog Celes was its Final Four victim, and it also took out Vamo Alla' Flamenco and Clash on the Big Bridge along the way. It ultimately outscored its opponents 157-88.

But more important than the song winner is the winner of the CoNtest. Along the way, I definitely thought the tiebreaker was going to have to be used, but it ended up being unnecessary for first place, as cashballer has won with a total of nine points! cashballer accurately predicted the final two and also correctly selected one of the two final four losers to take home the prize. Awesomely, though it didn't come into play, cashballer was also one of the top three closest to the tiebreaker itself. For his picks, cashballer wins $25 to AmaCoN!

Though there's no difference in the prize, the tiebreaker DID come into effect for second place...and since only one of the two finishers here submitted a tiebreaker, Shotgunnova comes in second place with a total of seven points after his tiebreaker of 1275 came into play (?!??!) Sherick, also with a total of seven points (but no tiebreaker!) finishes in third. Shotgunnova correctly placed the top two finishers but no others, and Sherick correctly placed the winner, one of the final four losers, and had Terra bowing out in the final four. Both Sherick and Shotgunnova will receive $10 to AmaCoN!

All top three finishers will also receive forum awards for their wins!

Top 20-ish (omitting scores of 1 or 0 and sorting properly by tiebreaker):

Code

cashballer              9
Shotgunnova             7
Sherick                 7
GamblingCat             6
Kappa the Imp           5
Neal                    4
Rangers51               4
Del S                   4
Krisp                   4
yelanates               4
Narratorway             4
Psiren                  4
sweetdude               3
Miss Ronin              3
finalalias              2
Glenn Magus Harvey      2
TheEvilEye              2
Death Penalty           2
Gigantuar               2
ILoveMoombas!           2
sojithesoulja           2
Jav                     2

I also want to thank everybody for submitting songs, entering the contest, and participating throughout. In just a couple months we got a total of 2,364 votes on 63 different matches, and over 50 different members all voted, submitted, and entered. It was a lot of fun running it and I'm thankful that it went even better than I had hoped!

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

A damn fine, fun, contest. Congrats to the winners, and also to Neal for running and organising the whole thing single-handed.

Quite interesting that 4 and 2 were the more common scores. Not sure if that might mean anything...

Anyway, this was certainly one of the more unique contests I've seen anywhere, and it' be interesting to see if the format could be repeated with something else in the future.

This post has been edited by Del S on 13th January 2011 00:18

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

4th Place (or Tied for 3rd). Awesome. I had a feeling about Dancing Mad. Its beyond Awesome.

Quote (GamblingCat @ 12th January 2011 19:25)

4th Place (or Tied for 3rd). Awesome. I had a feeling about Dancing Mad. Its beyond Awesome.

Nope, definitely fourth.

I would have done far better if I'd been wise enough to just pick lots of FF6 songs. I learned something, this competition, heh.

Anyway, I hope you guys all had a lot of fun. I really don't know when or if we'll do this again - it's hard to say. I don't see that it would be nearly as fun to do other games, or non Final Fantasy games, because it would seem like it was just another generic competition, not one that draws on the common passion of the community. I mean, I'm sure there are some games out there with just incredibly awesome music, but if you brought them to me, would I care? I dunno.

I will say that we will keep trying to bring you guys contests that will appeal to you as Square Enix fans - I just don't know what they are yet. Heck, this one was all Neal's brainchild anyway, as you no doubt have figured out. Great job!

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Thanks for helming the contest, Neal, and congrats to all the winners, especially Cashballer! That's some good picks y'got there, man.

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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

I've got to actually participate in the next one, lol. Great contest, turned out well.

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"We are all missionaries (propagandists of our views). Each of us disapproves of the other missionaries; in fact detests them, as a rule. I am one of the herd myself."

"I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."

—Mark Twain

I agree, it was a lot of fun. I also found it very interesting to learn what other people thought of FF music, and being introduced to many great songs I hadn't heard before (or only heard once or twice playing through a game, then forgot about). I just picked my favorites and threw Zanarkand in there because so many people seemed to love it; apparently my tastes aren't completely uncommon, at least among CoN members. I would have put Celes in the final four, too, but I doubted many people liked it as much as I do.

Thanks for organizing this, Neal, and congrats to Dancing Mad.

Congrats Dancing Mad, congrats cashballer!

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"If art doesn't risk upsetting expectations and challenging its audience, it can only stagnate."

Congrats to the winners, and thanks Neal for doing all this! It was a lot of fun.

Maybe next we could do it with FF characters, but then I'd be really annoyed when Kefka would become a finalist.

Anyway, thanks everyone for participating, and for all the discussions. It really opened my eyes to all the great vg music the FF series has produced.

Well, looks like DM got 152 votes. I guessed 165, so I'm satisfied that at least I was close in that regard.

This post has been edited by finalalias on 13th January 2011 06:04

That was quite close in the end, well done cashballer, Shotgunnova and Sherick. And, yeah, well done Neal on hosting a successful tournament.

Quote (R51)

Anyway, I hope you guys all had a lot of fun. I really don't know when or if we'll do this again - it's hard to say. I don't see that it would be nearly as fun to do other games, or non Final Fantasy games, because it would seem like it was just another generic competition, not one that draws on the common passion of the community. I mean, I'm sure there are some games out there with just incredibly awesome music, but if you brought them to me, would I care? I dunno.

Maybe it doesn't need to be music? Everyone has their favourite games. As a guess I would say the PS2 or PSX is the most popular console here. Not everyone has played the SNES, or at least a lot of SNES. Just a thought.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Tons of fun, thanks Neal for putting it on!

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Currently Playing : Pikmin 2
Most Recently Beat : To the Moon
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

IIRC I guessed 140 total votes. I wasn't even near it.

Great game, everyone, and hooray for a well-done CoNtest to the moderating team here at CoN!

Thank you to the users and the organizers for introducing me to very many new music tracks, including:
* FF9 - Feel My Blade
* FF10 - Someday the Dream
* FF8 - Liberi Fatali
* FF9 - You're Not Alone
* FF9 - Melodies of Life
* FF10 - Calm Before the Storm
* FF1 - Undersea Shrine
* FF9 - Vamo' Alla Flamenco
* FF8 - Find Your Way
* FF10 - Yuna's Theme
* FF9 - Hunter's Chance
* FF8 - The Landing
* FF9 - Rose of May (the other name is stupid)
* FF10 - Auron's Theme
* FF9 - The Place I'll Return To
* FF8 - Fisherman's Horizon
* FF1 - Gurgu Volcano

Just one question: cashballer, what were your picks for the final four?

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 13th January 2011 18:11

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It Just Bugs Me! - a place to discuss media, real life, and other topics.

Congrats, guys. I never had any illusions that I was going to win (two of my songs were from FF7, I put in To Zanarkand because everyone else did) but this was still a lot of fun. I don't think it would have any replay value, though, unless all the songs used in this tournament were disqualified or something. Maybe a Least Favorite FF song CoNtest?

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I guess you'd call it suicide
But I'm too full to swallow my pride

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 13th January 2011 18:06)

Just one question: cashballer, what were your picks for the final four?

1. Dancing Mad
2. Terra
3/4. Man with the Machine Gun
3/4. To Zanarkand

and I think I guessed 149 total votes.
It just so happened that my three favorites were three of the top seeds, and if I replaced TZ with my fourth favorite (Celes), I would've had the same score.

Actually, I remember now. Prelude was the only one I really liked in the fourth bracket, but I didn't think it would get very far, so I put TZ in for winning that bracket.

This post has been edited by cashballer on 13th January 2011 22:47

Great contest, Neal! Thanks for putting it together.

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Be born then, gasp wind, screech at the surgeon’s slap, seek manhood, taste a little godhood, feel pain, give birth, struggle a little while, succumb: (Dying, leave quietly by the rear exit, please.) Generation, regeneration, again, again, as in a ritual, with blood-stained vestments and nail-torn hands, children of Merlin, chasing a gleam.

It might be interesting to do this same kind of contest but with characters instead of songs...

This was a lot of fun.

Congrats to the winners! And thank you to the staff for putting this contest together!

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FF games completed: I (psp), II (psp), III (DS), IV (psp), V (GBA), VI (GBA), VII, VIII, IX, X, XII, XIII.
Spin-offs: FFIV: Interlude & The After Years, Crisis Core: FFVII, X-2, XIII-2, Dissidia, Dissidia 012, and Tactics (original & WotL).
Enjoyed them all.

Quote (yelanates @ 13th January 2011 19:01)

It might be interesting to do this same kind of contest but with characters instead of songs...

I was just thinking to suggest that, actually!

But yes, rad contest! Loved it, hated it, it was glorious though I'm sad my guesses sucked haha! Thanks for putting it together, team!

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Games on the Go
Red Dead Redemption
FFT: War of the Lions
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of Starry Skies

Too much to play, so little time!

Greg

Congrats, cashballer, Shotgunnova, and Sherick! And thanks for putting on this contest, Neal. It was a lot of fun!

I didn't harbor any illusions that I was gonna win (Dancing Mad taking first was the only thing I correctly predicted, I think), but I'm very pleasantly surprised to see that I placed in the top 20.

Yeah, determining the favorite FF character was another idea I'd been toying with. I actually pitched the contest back in March, back when I was on a bracket craze due to the NCAA basketball tournament. I could see FF character coming back as another tournament, and I think that would probably be more difficult to predict who would win. We had 32 entrants into the actual CoNtest portion of this game, and 12 correctly picked Dancing Mad to win. 19 participants had them making it to some point in the final four as well.

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

Quote (Neal @ 14th January 2011 14:44)

Yeah, determining the favorite FF character was another idea I'd been toying with. I actually pitched the contest back in March, back when I was on a bracket craze due to the NCAA basketball tournament. I could see FF character coming back as another tournament, and I think that would probably be more difficult to predict who would win. We had 32 entrants into the actual CoNtest portion of this game, and 12 correctly picked Dancing Mad to win. 19 participants had them making it to some point in the final four as well.

Not to mention it'd be much more debateable, simply because everyone's qualifications for which is the better character could be drastically different. Regardless though, I think it'd be fun!

I should also mention that this contest introduced me to quite a few songs I hadn't heard before, namely, those from FF1. I've never played the game, but thanks to this tourney I now have several songs from the game on my ipod.

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Currently Playing : Pikmin 2
Most Recently Beat : To the Moon
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

Congrats to the winners and kudos to Neal for the super fun contest! In the last two months, I made damn near three times the number of posts I made in the rest of the year prior. Despite my utter failure in it, the contest was indeed a lot of fun .

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Console RPG Cliches

Quote (Perigryn @ 13th January 2011 21:48)

Quote (yelanates @ 13th January 2011 19:01)

It might be interesting to do this same kind of contest but with characters instead of songs...

I was just thinking to suggest that, actually!

I'd be all for a character contest. FFT might get a greater share of the spots than it did for the music contest (not that I have any right to complain--since I didn't even enter). But yeah, I'd love to see a character contest. I'm much more attached to the characters than the music (as I imagine most are).

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Be born then, gasp wind, screech at the surgeon’s slap, seek manhood, taste a little godhood, feel pain, give birth, struggle a little while, succumb: (Dying, leave quietly by the rear exit, please.) Generation, regeneration, again, again, as in a ritual, with blood-stained vestments and nail-torn hands, children of Merlin, chasing a gleam.

Quote (Kane @ 14th January 2011 19:53)

I'd be all for a character contest. FFT might get a greater share of the spots than it did for the music contest...

Absolutely. I like Kefka as much as the next guy, but he's got nothing on Delita.

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"If art doesn't risk upsetting expectations and challenging its audience, it can only stagnate."

Quote (trismegistus @ 14th January 2011 21:18)

Quote (Kane @ 14th January 2011 19:53)

I'd be all for a character contest. FFT might get a greater share of the spots than it did for the music contest...

Absolutely. I like Kefka as much as the next guy, but he's got nothing on Delita.

Delita who?

Edit

Sarcasm

Well, actually, wouldn't most people feel that way?

This post has been edited by BlitzSage on 15th January 2011 17:28

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"We are all missionaries (propagandists of our views). Each of us disapproves of the other missionaries; in fact detests them, as a rule. I am one of the herd myself."

"I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."

—Mark Twain

Ironically, in a characters contest, I wouldn't too likely vote for FFT characters, if only because I haven't played the game--an amusing reversal of my position here, which was basically that FFT music is some of the best game music I've ever heard.

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It Just Bugs Me! - a place to discuss media, real life, and other topics.

Quote (BlitzSage @ 13th January 2011 01:43)

I've got to actually participate in the next one, lol. Great contest, turned out well.

Yes me too sounds like fun