Season 56 Site Rankings: Prelminary stage

[superaielman]

RULES
Choose TWO games/Forgotten Warriors. You must choose two, and can not choose more than two. This is to provide some balance- some people will yes most ideas, some will no most ideas. Picking out the best helps window down what to rank.

RULES REGARDING (single) FORGOTTEN WARRIORS: They do not take up a slot, if they're from a ranked game. They still need to beat out the second place game for nominations to get to the next stage.

Don't:

Suggest a game for ranking for humor/trolling/for the hell of it. Please put some effort into your suggestions and pick the best games for the DL overall. Save the comic failure for board tournaments.

What makes a good rankable game?

* games that are well-played within our group, and hence will get good vote numbers
* games which are well-played outside of our group, and hence will attract newbies
* games with well-developed or memorable characters
* games with interesting duellers battle-wise

Feel free to ask any questions about the process here.

And now on to the suggestions that have been made through the voting page. You don't have to stick to this list, but most people do read through it to refresh their memory of unranked games. Also gives you an idea about fan demand.

[superaielman]

Persona 4 bosses
Writers: 15/18
Suggestors: 7
Art: Easy to find
Acessability: Easy to find
Vote potential: Average
Current potential: Average
Notes: Spoilers and some concern about drawing were the main reasons we held off before. Neither should be problems at this point.


Wild ARMs: XF
Writers: 12/18
Suggestors: 4
Art: Easy to find
Accessability: Easy to find
Vote potential: Below average
Current potential: Below average
Notes: Internal and writers have taken a jump since last time, and the writers figure doesn't include a few people who are halfway through the game right now. The game being on such a weird system (PSP) is a major concern, and the previous game in the series stunk it up bad. Fan interest is certainly high enough here though.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Writers: 7/18
Suggestors: 4
Art: Easy to find
Accessability: Easy to find, poor in group ownership of said console (Wii)
Vote potential: Below average
Current potential: Well below average
Notes: Seems to have the same problems FE9 did before it was ranked. Internal isn't good, but has some external interest and fans. Most likely an idea for next time, as it's on the low side for internal.

Soul Nomad
Writers: 11/18
Suggestors: 3
Art: Easy to find
Accessability: Somewhat difficult to find
Vote potential: Below average
Current potential:
Notes: Internal's solid enough on all fronts that I've seen and it is a high interest game. On the other hand, the game's system has some headaches in terms of translations, the main character isn't rankable, and it is a somewhat obscure PS2 game. The characters are interesting and it's a memorable cast, but I have no idea if it makes the translation well enough to the DL to make it a good ranking idea.

Star Ocean 1
Writers: 10/18
Suggestors: 2
Art: Easy to find
Accessability: Easy to find
Vote potential: Average
Current potential: Below average?
Notes: Getting better! Internal's up and we know from WA:XF that PSP games can be rankable. There is some split between the versions but it doesn't sound like enough to impede it as a ranking idea.

Dragon quest 5
Writers: 9/18
Suggestors: 2
Art: Easy to find
Accessability: Easy to find
Vote potential: Average
Current potential: Below average
Notes: I like this idea on paper. DQ4's remake really helped it on the rankability front and it is steadily improving with each ranking period. It isn't a huge rank in practice thanks to a small human cast and monsters not really fitting the format, but it is something to keep in mind for next time.

Longshots: What it sounds like.

VPDS: 1
Rogue Galaxy: 1
Etrian Odyessey: 1
Infinite undiscovery: 1
Spyro the Dragon: 1
Rondo of Swords: 1
Kingdom Hearts FW Sora: 1
Chocobo dungeon: 1
Growlanser Generations: 1
Growlanser 5: 1
The World ends with you: 1
Wizard of Oz: 1
Ys: 1
FFTA2: 1
WA4 FW: Hugo Hewitt: 1
Digimon world: 1
SMTN FW Lucifer: 1
Live a live: 1
Pokemon FW package: 1
Great Greed: 1
FFT FW Zalmo: 1
Mother 3: 1
Saga Frontier FW set: 1
Paper Mario: Thousand Year door: 1
Golden Sun 2: 1
Pokemon DP: 1

[superaielman]

Persona 4 bosses and Wild ARMs XF.

P4 bosses are obvious. They clearly deserve it in terms of drawing, and spoiler risks are over. (However I ask nicely that no one spoil the killer until the ranking stage, someone in the group is currently midway through a playthrough of the game.)

XF has enough internal to make me think it'll work. Group playership is very good, and several new players are working their way through it right now.

DQ5/SO1 are for next time, they just feel inferior to the other options. FE10 needs more internal.

SN I'll listen to arguments for it, but XF feels clearly better and has less in the way of headaches.

[Dhyerwolf]

P4- Killer (FW). No to other bosses! I could vote on common Pokemans, but P4 is getting a non-FW bid anyways. Final may be too much/is way disconnected from the plot that made P4 awesome, no to the giant eye, Kunino is actually okay, but still no.

WA:XF- Sure, if one of the big people who had issues with it before it now okay with it, I'm good with it too then.

Gut is that Soul Nomad/Common Pokemons will then be what I'll push next time.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Persona 4 bosses - No to High Godlkes with questionable plot, so definitely no eye and I'm a little iffy on some others? Definitely yes to Killer, though.
Wild Arms XF - Might be too soon for the final boss? PCs/Charlton/Weisy/Rupert/Chelle.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Soul Nomad
Wild Arms XF

P4 Bosses are okay, but I'm more interested in seeing these two games in the DL. I don't think the anti-SN people will stand for it, but I think it's a workable rank. Dhyer's even fleshing out the stat topic to account for more viewpoints.

XF is something I wanted more than WA5, and it's nice to see a game from a modern system get a shot at ranking. It means we might actually start ranking games that externals care about again.

[dude789]

WA XF and Persona 4 bosses. I'll probably end up supporting the Sagiris, Killer and Mitsuo from P4 and the PCs and Chelle, Weisheit, Charlton, Rupert from WA XF.

[DomaDragoon]

XF: Duh. Readily (legally) available game for a new system that has a lot of internal support, and would probably have a decent shot at some outside support given said availability.

Pokemon DPP: Strikes me as the best option for the remaining choices at this point. *shrug*

Oh, and hearts to whoever nommed FFTA2 and Live a Live. Not that either stand a ghost of a chance, but it's nice to see that someone other than me is interested in them being ranked.

[ThePiggyman]

Persona 4 bosses. Sure.

FW FFT Kletian. He'll never make it. But I'll keep trying.

[Pyro]

Persona 4 bosses.

games that are well-played within our group, and hence will get good vote numbers - Definitely
games which are well-played outside of our group, and hence will attract newbies - P4 is widely loved
games with well-developed or memorable characters - Well, the 2-3 rankable villains are memorable enough. I mean. Come on. HIPPY FREAKING JESUS.
games with interesting duellers battle-wise - They are better than slugger bosses.

Wild Arms XF:

games that are well-played within our group, and hence will get good vote numbers - We are getting there!
games which are well-played outside of our group, and hence will attract newbies - Yeah this might be a problem.
games with well-developed or memorable characters - Very good game. Well, MOST people feel that way.
games with interesting duellers battle-wise  - Everyone has interesting skillsets/abilities. Well, there is Tony but even he has elemental resists!

[Monkeyfinger]

P4 bosses
Soul Nomad

[OblivionKnight]

I like Pyro's format.  Exhausted from a drive through the fog for way too damn long, and loads of other stuff, but food is good so let's type.


Persona 4 bosses.

games that are well-played within our group, and hence will get good vote numbers - Fuck yes.  The game pwned lolarms5 in drawing relatively well, for being an "obscure" series
games which are well-played outside of our group, and hence will attract newbies - P4 is widely loved (except by Meeples, and even Meeples play it, at least!)
games with well-developed or memorable characters - The bosses are all very memorable (Shadows too).  Definitely support Bored Sociopath, Hippie Jesus, Visine Commercial, and Arkham Asylum Lady.  They all have plot (first two especially - they are the two most important ranks of the lot), and the last of the mentioned ones is also built in the plot enough to rank (moreso than some games we have ranked now with worse drawing).  Visine is memorable and has plot, but I can live without it.  It is awesome, though, and, as stated, still fits fine.
games with interesting duellers battle-wise - They are better than slugger bosses.

Soul Nomad:

games that are well-played within our group, and hence will get good vote numbers - We are getting there!
games which are well-played outside of our group, and hence will attract newbies - Hey, the NI fans are crazy in love with the game!
games with well-developed or memorable characters - Everyone.  Definitely disagree strongly with Super on Revya not being rankable.  It has a large cast, which I can see culling for ranks - but they are all generally interesting and memorable the lot of them, so all have arguments for being ranked.
games with interesting duellers battle-wise  - As above.

[Yoshiken]

Games I've Completed:
Persona 4 bosses
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - These two were the two I suggested. (Yeah, I gave up on SMT3. )
Kingdom Hearts FW Sora: 1
SMTN FW Lucifer: 1
Pokemon FW package: 1
Pokemon DP: 1

Games I've Started:
Etrian Odyssey: 1
Mother 3: 1
Paper Mario: Thousand Year door: 1

Games I have access to:
Dragon Quest 5
Golden Sun 2: 1

Honestly, I still think FE:RD is one of the best ranks available. The external draw for this game is crazy, and it's amazingly popular with those who have played it within the DL. Add in the Wii's ridiculous sales figures, and it means that almost anyone who joins the DL will have access to this game, at least. Besides, the duelists can be interesting, depending on the skills they have - also, Godlike FE boss yesiu.

P4, I'm starting to think most people know, at least internally. Some of the bosses are amazing to rank - Mitsuo the Hero whee~ - and all of them have good rankability except for... Izanami, maybe? And Margaret, but that's expected. Definitely the best choice here.

Sora and Lucifer have major problems - Sora is a trainwreck to vote on, always has been, and Lucifer is pretty much a loss for anyone without ITD, and that's rare, even in Godlike. Both Pokemon ones seem like good ideas on paper, although might be hard to determine what gets ranked? Otherwise, seem perfectly fine to me.

Etrian Odyssey... Difficult to vote on for some. Having only a party of 5 out of, what, 12 choices (?) makes things a problem, as does the fact that they're all generics. Mother 3 is as good a rank as scrolling HP can get, so about as good as Earthbound, but with more characters, I think? Yeah, awesome, but draw problems. Paper Mario is a huge no from me, due to being a dull game with a low draw and a mostly useless cast.
DQ5 and GS2 are games I've not started, but I could easily play them soon if needed.

[Magic Fanatic]

Mother 3
SaGa Frontier FW Set

Well...  Mother 3 is obvious, coming from me.  I'm going to go ahead and recommend the main four PCs, maybe Flint...  We have a Slow Tank with decent healing, a nice 2HKO, and lots of spoiling for pure sluggers in Lucas, status whores in Kumatora and Duster (where Kumatora ALSO has a passable 2HKO, as well as other elements to choose from), and Boney...  Well, we don't have that many punies, right?  And Flint...  Temp, yes.  Alone, yes.  Decent options for tanking and damage on his own, even though they're all physical, so.

Lucas: Low Heavy
Kumatora: High Middle
Duster: Light
Boney: Low Light
Flint: Middle

For the SaGaF FW set...  I recommended Doll, Mesarthim, Rei, and Dr. Nusakan.  Doll is unique in being the ONLY human that gets the Gift for Mystic Magic, making her quite a spoiler with Human stats and a Mystic's skill set.  Mesarthim and Dr. Nusakan tie for best non-TimeLord Mystics, what with rather crazy amounts of options available to the both of them, being Mystics, and having tons of options for how to bring down opponents in Rune and Arcane magic, respectively.  Rei also is an awesome status slinger, getting bother Mirage Magic (Cockatrice and Reaper are REALLY good Petrify and ID) AND the Mystic Magic skill set.

Doll: Low Heavy
Mesarthim: Heavy
Rei: Heavy
Dr. Nusakan: High Heavy

Mother 3 is rather easy to pass around to ANYONE interested, and SaGa should be pretty well-played at this point.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Wild Arms XF
Starmie!!!!

[074]

Persona 4 bosses (Killer and Izanami only) and FW WA4 Hugo Hewitt.  Hugo having the important distinction of being one of the few duellers who actually makes MT matter in the DL via System Chronos--even if you have to outspeed a second turn or otherwise survive his blitz.  Plus, more variety in Godlike!  Can't have enough variety in there, really.

[alanna82]

edit: Okay, Forgotten warrior Starmie! Totally memoriable in game due to Misty's.
Star Ocean 1- sure, this seems well played


Big NO to Persona 4 as I want to play it eventually and the DL will spoil it for me if the killer gets ranked.
Since WA5 failed, I dont really want to see XF ranked unless we are sure its better. Star Ocean is a better PSP ranking to me.

[Nephrite]

P4 Bosses (All of them, don't make up shit about plot importance, we have WA4 one-shot wonders and no one complained about them)
FE 10

EDIT:

To make this a bit more clear:

I support the PC Shadows because they are all incredibly relevant to the plot and to the characters that have them. I will not stand my ground and support them if no one wants them, but I think they're all incredibly important and interesting bosses.

Eyeball - He does come out of nowhere, I'll admit, but he's pretty integral in that you believe he's the mastermind behind everything.

Killer - Obvious.

Kunino - Also important to the plot. Interesting fight mechanics, to boot.

8-Bit - Considering how much he pops up in the game's story, I can't see why we'd say no here. We've had much less important people ranked in the past and he is very, very memorable.

Izanami - No reason to deny her because she's too strong. We have Zophar, Fou-lu, Yuna, whatever else too. If she's completely unbeatable I'll take this back, but I don't think that's the case at all.

[superaielman]

Alanna: You have had at least six months to play the game. Sorry, but that is more than a reasonable timeframe.

[OblivionKnight]

To be fair, Alanna, ranking the killer doesn't necessarily give away its identity, as long as you generally stay shy of things.  I suppose seeing their name might give it away...but then again, maybe not, depending on what gets ranked.  Just move through it - you can do it relatively quickly

[alanna82]

I havent been able to FIND the game where I live. Its not a matter of being slow to play. It took me years to find Valkyrie Profile used. Still havent been able to find Persona 4 or DDS2 used. (found DDS, bought it, then found another one at the same store a month later and its still there o_O)

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

It's still a matter of acceptable casualties by now. Persona 4 is an old enough game to make spoilers not a sacred no-no moniker (over an year old now), and you'll just have to tough it out some - it's also coming with fair warning. -Tangentially-, with a passing knowledge of tropes and videogame conventions, you could sensibly be able to call on the Killer's identity by something like July. But the point is that enough time has passed.

[Taishyr]

Also, depending on -which- bosses are ranked, enough of the decoys come up that even seeing the Killer won't be obvious. This is, incidentally, why...

P4: All non-Shadow <Teammate> bosses. I'm of two minds on those, but less inclined to accept them; if they come up I'll hear arguments and present my own. All three of the humans left unranked, Ameno and Izanami I'd rank.

WAXF: For every SMT there must be an equivalent Elfboy push.

[AndrewRogue]

P4- All Shadow Teammates (minus... the two  or so that fall too far on the plotty side), 8-Bit Hero, Kunino, Killer, Ameno.

Not going to fight overly hard for the Shadow Teammates, but will fight for the other four. Game has too many decent/interesting/cute to not really plumb the depths. It feels kinda wasteful otherwise.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn- Major plot PCs

Filler suggestion. Probably a good game on the whole to push. Will try to play it myself in the near future (more likely than my other options, at least).

[superaielman]

Need to suggest two games, Tai/Andy