Results[]
Ulti's Analysis[]
| Round | Division 32-64 Semi Final |
|---|---|
| Match # | 53 |
| Match Date | Thursday, May 27th, 2004 |
| Vote difference | 33,977 |
| Oracle Expectations |
Final Fantasy VII - 66.77% 55 for - 0 against |
| GameFAQs Prediction |
Final Fantasy VII - 78.89% (32,298 brackets) |
Anyone could see that Final Fantasy 7 was going to the Divisional Finals in this contest, and that Ocarina of Time was the only game that could have stood in its way. What gets me is the absolute beating it laid on Metal Gear Solid in this matchup. In character contests, Solid Snake is one of the upper-tier characters, and will almost never go down without a good fight. Yet in this match, Metal Gear Solid simply wasn't beaten; it was crushed. If Final Fantasy 7 wasn't the clear-cut favorite to win this contest after this match, I don't know what it would take to prove it. And I simply don't see a horde of Final Fantasy Tactics fans voting for Final Fantasy 7 out of spite, either.
The other thing that gets me was the total indifference of the Ocarina of Time fans during this match. 72-28 over Metal Gear Solid is about as powerful as it gets, yet a ton of people still claimed that Ocarina of Time stood a decent chance. To put this in a bit of perspective, Metal Gear Solid can and would beat Goldeneye in any one on one poll. For Ocarina of Time to prove that it still had a chance to take down Final Fantasy 7, it had to better against Goldeneye than Final Fantasy 7 did against Metal Gear Solid. If Goldeneye so much as tied Metal Gear Solid's percentage against Ocarina of Time, the contest was virtually over. And Ocarina could make no excuses either, as its match was the day after this one. At least we didn't have to wait long to see how it would all go down =)
As a side note, Kao Megura (the FAQ writer whose FF7 guide made this site famous) passed away between FF7's second and third matches, which caused Final Fantasy 7 to make a jump back to #1 on our Top FAQs list. If you put any stock whatsoever into the Kao Megura theory, it was at least worth mentioning. One thing that must be noted is how much of a badass the guy was. He updated his FF7 guide the day before he died, and if he knew of what was going to happen while he was making his final update, then that is flat-out dedication right there. He will be sorely missed for a long, long time on this site; hopefully CJayC has some common sense and decides to make some sort of a tribute to Chris MacDonald on our site. A yearly award in his name, a page dedicated to him... anything.
Anyway, back to the topic. Slowflake said it best: this match was a wake-up call to anyone that doubted Final Fantasy 7's chances, much like Cloud vs Sonic in 2003.
Match Trends[]
