Best Scenes Round 13 - THE BATTLE OF SURVIVAL BEGINS!

[Meeplelard]

DRAMA:
Field of Takamagahara Good (SH2) || vs. Arshtat debriefs you after Lordlake (Suikoden V) |||| ||
Jowy says goodbye to Jilia (Suikoden II)  ||| vs. Badrach's Story (Valkyrie Profile) |||| ||

STYLE:
Assault of the Silver Dragons |||| | vs.  Allen Ridgeley, Owner of Lamers (Xenosaga 3) ||||
"I wish you would embrace God." (Grim Grimoire) |||| vs. Yggdrasil Jump of Impossibility (Xenogears) |||| - Tiebreak in favor of the game that isn't Xenogears!  Yeah, I went there, WHAT OF IT!?

HUMOR:
Beach Trip (Persona 3) ||| vs. Omlette! (Persona 4) ||||
MR. SNAIL (Eternal Sonata) | vs.  End Chapter 7 (Mana Khemia 2) |||| |||

EXPAND THE WRONGNESS:
No cloud nor squall (Final Fantasy IX) ||||  vs. Manos, the Hand of Golbez (Final Fantasy IV) ||||

TOKEN WHINE OF THE TOPIC:
Stop forcing me to do Tiebreaks people! If you're the last person voting, it is your DUTY TO INSURE that a tie does not occur in any match!
Obviously, I'm just being facetious and not enforcing this, I just felt its a tradition for me to whine each round <.<

MOVING ON!!!

DRAMA:
*Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok6qjPj7O3g#t=4m43s)
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk3Q5e1JLIg) vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgBcmApqRDA&feature=related)

*2 Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H045qTJyds0#t=1m39s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUtArRUJyDM

I apologize for the "Required to sit through fights" thing, but you may skip them if you want.  Time Notations for these are:
-2nd Fight goes on for the remainder of the first video (as in, you can end the first video there)
-3rd Fight ends at about 5:55
-Gameplay segment that starts up after the 3rd fight (which is pretty quick -_- ) ends at 8:55 or so; the duel, thankfully, is short so no point in skipping that

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to check when the first fight begins, so sorry :\

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally (Crisis Core) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK7Fhaw-0ZY#t=9m20s) vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilytH9iDhz0 - until about 3:30)
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK-LdiUl7Ig&feature=related) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV_soVbO1es#t=1m55s)

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxL5U7ZJtCo) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10) (see Script below)
Kon's Super Attack (Bleach Blade Battles) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zlki-anpj8#t=4m16s) vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbNbvxhNq-g#t=22s - until whenever the battle starts)

NOTE: in the Terra Condor one, if you're wondering why I cut off 22 seconds, its cause there's a stupid intro that I figured I'd spare you; the scene itself was not cut.

Callil's Shop:

Calill: It's been one thing after another. First, the civil unrest, then the
imperial invasion. I'm so sick of hearing about all of it.
Makalov: You and me both. I figured I'd be able to get in some me time now
that Crimea's peaceful again. Get a card game started or something...
Largo: You're a Royal Knight. If the queen decides you should go sweep away
ten or a hundred imperial soldiers, you should probably go do it.
Makalov: Yeah... We've been ordered to mobilize, and I can't think of any
excuse to get out of it. Maybe I could pretend to be dead. Any ideas, Amy?
Amy: Don't make General Geoffrey mad! You're a Royal Knight! You better follow
his orders!
Makalov: Amy! You're supposed to HELP me! She's obviously been spending way
too much time with you, Calill.
Calill: Well of course, you twit! All right, Makalov. It's time for you to
pay up and go.
Makalov: What!? But... I think my stomach's acting funny...
: That's enough, you layabout!
Makalov: Oh. Hi, Marcia. Don't surprise me like that!
Marcia: Makalov! I knew I'd find you here, slacker! You're making the whole
squad wait for you! Hurry up and head back!
Makalov: I don't know about all this. Fighting the Imperial Army means
fighting my old comrades. I don't wanna fight my old friends. You know what I
mean?
Marcia: ...I think I see. You owe them money, don't you? Isn't that the real
reason why you don't want to see them, cheese breath?
Makalov: W-when did you learn to read minds like the herons!?
Marcia: I can't, you spineless sea cucumber! It's just so typical of you that
I guessed!
Astrid: Marcia, please. That's quite enough.
Marcia: But, Astrid! It's despicable!
Astrid: Look at how calm Sir Makalov is. He never gets irritated or upset.
It's the mark of a true knight. A good knight must know how to keep his cool
on the battlefield.
Marcia: Um. But... we're in a bar.
Astrid: Oh, I hope to be as good a knight as Sir Makalov someday! How I dream
of that day!
Makalov: Heh.
Marcia: I don't believe this.
Makalov: ...You don't wanna end up like me, baby.
Marcia: Oh, I completely agree! Who'd want to end up a clown-haired
chowderhead?
Astrid: The love you two have for each other is so wonderful. I wish I had a
sibling!
Makalov: Uh, sure...
Marcia: I'll sell him to you. Cheap.

MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJFEudf-jOQ#t=1m42s - until about 5:18) vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2) (http://homepage.mac.com/myronwu/thumbs/hoochees.gif)

XENO-FAIL:
Breast Cannons (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhwHUY9PefM&feature=related) vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbYIHy_VqzU)
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwSoV7InC1M) vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcwpyVdxfC4)

SHORT FORM:

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI)
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad)

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga)

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10)
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2)

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus"
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!!


Yes, Xeno-Fail counts as a typical failure division, just its TOPICAL this time!

[superaielman]

SHORT FORM:

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI)- A favorite versus a scene/character I hated. Not close. (To save Elfboy time, he can just change the bolding on this and do nothing else. Aren't I nice?)
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad)- This one caught me completely and totally off guard, which really enhanced the value. Both are excellent, though.

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)- God damn this draw.
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga)- MGZ was pretty damn stylish, I have to admit.

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10)- King's game was decent, Callil's shop didn't do that much for me. Go away Makalov.
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)- I admit, I chuckled at this.


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2)- Because fuck Lulu.

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus"
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!!MISTBORN TO THE FACE-



(Lady Vin, Mistborn. Read Mistborn!)

[Dhyerwolf]

SHORT FORM:

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI)- Horrid mismatch
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad)- I guess I'm going off the scene's own natural merits here. SN scene is good in game, while the DQ 8 is a flaming turd (Eh, wouldn't be if Angelo was actually a real character! But DQ 8 only has one PC character) but is fantastic when removed from it's bad source.

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)- Hmm, they progressed about 3 style steps back since FF 7. But...Red's intro is a big mess.
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga)- Both very expected in their own ways, but Voyager's Assault does so much more.

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10)- Occasional laugh vs not remotely funny


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2)- Torn. Lulu dying is awesome because Lulu sucks. Lulu dying is not awesome because Hugo sucks and it makes him speak more.

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus"- These are just in different leagues of special.
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!!- Actually, I don't have severe problems with either of those. Wilhelm is just the full culmination of stupid that's already been revealed in other thing. Secret Jesus crap is already well entrenched. On the Shion front, Kevin (at least by the Wilhelm scene) does appear to hold some legit affection for Shion and she doesn't want Allen's dick. But sure, this one.

[OblivionKnight]

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI) - Celes...would be more awesome if she actually died, honestly.  And if, well...you couldn't save Cid.  I didn't realize he could die, as every time...I saved him!  Without knowing what to do!  So learning he could die later took out some of the impact.
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs.  Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad) - Man...both are awesome

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier) - Blah to both.
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga) - Remember when XS was still an awesome cutscene game?

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10) - <3 Rise
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2) - Eh...Cute.


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2) - Lulu dying is awesome

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus" - Boobs are cool
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!! - What the hell do I vote for again?

[DjinnAndTonic]

SHORT FORM:

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI) - Celes fan, sue me. This was the big scene that first made me like her. It doesn't feel quite as impactful these days, but it was still well-handled for what it was and works within the FF6 story. I like the Luca scene, too, but gotta go with Celes.
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad) - Pretty much my favorite thing ever.

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier) - Heroes are actually a unique species in SaGa Frontier.
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga) - The last cool thing to ever happen in Xenosaga. You really should just stop playing after this scene and make up your own ending. Preferably one where half the cast dies in obscurity.

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10) - Art imitates real life and sometimes real life is funny. This is one of those times.
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2) - I actually like Lulu and I was sad that he got killed (and even more sad that it made Chris ;_; ), so Hoochees wins by default.

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus" - can't actually vote yet since I'm at work where I can't watch youtube and these titles are a little obscure. Which "NO, You ARe the Jesus" scene is this?
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!! - Even more obscure! I ragefully shouted these names pretty much the entire 2nd half of XS3... >.>;;

[Random Consonant]

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI) - For all that Luca is a horrible baby eater who deserves to be mocked for that and his plot/motivations, Suiko2 does succeed at building him up as a threat to... well, pretty much anyone plotwise, something which imitators fail at. (Hi Judecca!  Hi Valter!)  So it's relieving and satisfying to get rid of the asshole, difficulty of the actual fights aside.  The cliff dive... I guess does what it set out do to, but I honestly feel that it doesn't hold up as well as it did when I first saw it.  Can't really say why.
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad)

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga)

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10) - Uh huh.  Gonna go with the moderately amusing vs. that was supposed to be funny sentiment.
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2)

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus"
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!!

[Dhyerwolf]

Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga) - The last cool thing to ever happen in Xenosaga. You really should just stop playing after this scene and make up your own ending. Preferably one where half the cast dies in obscurity.

Considering that an infinitely better arc (and one of the only 2 solid justifications Xenosaga as a series has for existing) happens that not far after this, I couldn't strongly disagree with this more.

[Dark Holy Elf]

What Dhyer said.

[Pyro]

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI): I'm probably the only one who liked both of these a fair bit. Luca's last stand culminates for me when he is alone and wounded and seems so... human for the first time. Celes' scene made me cry though (long time ago, so sue me) so I have to go with that.
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad): I didn't particularly like endgame SN plot.

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier): CC does style right, and cloud stabbing sephiroth was always cool.
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga): Sure.

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10): Yukiko sold me on this. So bloody hilarious. I will admit that I am a huge Marcia fangirl and really like that scene, but it doesn't have the same humor value, awesome closing aside. (also the "Cheap" part probably should be it's own line to get the same effect as what the game pulled off!)
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2): This is wrongness so...

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus"
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!!:

[Dark Holy Elf]

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI): For the record, I don't actually dislike the Luca scene. I think it's fine. Actually if anything I take more issue with Random's comments because I never really bought Luca as as big a threat as the game obviously wanted him to me. Regardless, yeah, I found the latter more powerful.
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad)

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga): I'd honestly have to rewatch both...

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10): Drunk people are much funnier in real life.
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2): Is actually a scene. Also, tickling always makes for great villainy.


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2): I found Lulu annoying. I still thought his death was a very powerful scene and as such not worthy of this division at all.

[Luther Lansfeld]

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI)- I liked it and it was really satsifying as a player.
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad)- whaaaat! This is total hax! Geez. Two of my very favs. Will need to think about this.

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)- Sure.
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga)

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10)- God, this scene is way worse than the Persona 4 scene with the bathing suits, and it's like eight minutes long. I was almost sold on trying Persona 4 until I saw the "humor" in this topic. EDIT: Probably not worse than the Love Hotel though.
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2)- I... I dunno. I can't think of a tactful way to say what I think about the comments on this match.

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus"
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!!

[Cmdr_King]

What the hell do I vote for again?

It's the Failure division (Meeple probably should have kept the name the same there), so vote for the one that sucks more.

[Monkeyfinger]

I only care about Drama (still pretty good by the standards of this tourney, it makes me bother voting at all) so here goes.

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI): I've never seen anything quite like Luca's scene. Like many villains of his type he never does anything really badass before it. The last scene, and the way the fight is set up, makes him really feel like the unstoppable butcher he's made out to be and that's something video games are generally bad at doing. Easy win over the dime a dozen emo wangst scene. An hero would have been a nice youch if it actually worked, like OK said.
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad): The really good Angelo scene was his monologue before all that shit goes down. The one we have right here is pretty okay, but definitely not as good as Raksha's plans all coming together right out of nowhere.

[dude789]

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI)
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad)

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga)

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10)
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)

MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2)

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus"
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!!

[Cmdr_King]

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI)- Cliff Dive highlights what bothers me about FFVI; I SHOULD care during this scene.  I just... don't.  FFVI just has no concept of building up to things, of using dialogue to bridge gaps between changes in character.  While Celes' interaction with Locke is the exception here, there's still a gap between "I believe she's falling for the dashing rogue" and "I believe she's in UTTER DESPAIR and has no reason to live".   Luca meanwhile isn't super awesome but gets across the general message they wanted to convey with him.
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad)- arggghhh why am I choosing between these two in the first round.  Either winner is a superior scene, Raksha's getting my nod just because it's the rare "twist that actually threw me but makes perfect sense once revealed" (high on the list of reasons I still play N1 games, actually!)

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)- Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  Definitative moment of FFVII, now 1000% shinier, or okay SaGa Frontier scene... gosh I just don't know.
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga)- I... y'know what?  I guess I just feel like "we throw everything at them and it just bounces off their shields" feels very tired to me.  If you want to be a badass, and aren't Superman, take the bullets then just GET UP.  Don't just sit there no selling every single attack.  The slow mo close-ups don't help of course.

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10)- If only real drunk people stayed at this level of drunk.
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2)

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus"- Unto itself, the jesus thing only bothers me because it's tired, honestly.  Oh wow the messiah was just a man who's ideas changed the world, shocking swerve.  Making chaos the 'real' jesus was pretty lame, but the breast cannons strike me as just as lame but with worse execution (this scene is, in addition to mindlessly fanservicing, BORING.  it's the last stand of a big antagonist, how is this boring.)
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!!- Shion's scene summarizes her failures, but god knows she failed before that.  Wilhelm meanwhile could have been something.  I mean, he's essentially the devil, there's a lot to work with there!  But no, instead he's all "blah blah rewind time blah blah this plan required ten thousand years to put together and I had to manipulate the whole of mankind to do it but still couldn't just make them not fucking fail blah blah this series is mindlessly misanthropic".

[James_xeno]

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI)
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad)

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga)

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10)
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2)

[Talaysen]

SHORT FORM:

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI)
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad)

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga)

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10)
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2)

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus"
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!!

[Excal]

SHORT FORM:

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI) - This one is a total coin flip for me, and a real shame they're both here.
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad) - Whereas this one isn't even close.  For some reason, really don't like Angelo here.

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier) - Oddly enough, I think I agree that the FF7 version is better than the CC version.
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga) - Hi there, I am invincible and boring.

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10) - You do realize they don't sell alcohol here, right?
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2) - Shoulda pulled strings to get this clip in during the World Cup.


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2) - Ding! Dong! Lulu is dead!  Which kid is dead?  Lulu is dead!  Ding! Dong!  That damn Lulu is dead!

XENO-FAIL
Breast Cannons vs. "NO, You ARe the Jesus" - Partially desensitised by Endless Boobjokes, partially deciding by concentration of Shion content.  So the one with other people gets less votage than the one consisting of Shion internal monolging.
SHIIIIOOOONN!!!!! vs. WIIIIILLHEEEELLLM!!!!! - At least Shion's scene has Jin with this kinda awesome "My prayers have been answered, Shion has finally given me a reason to cut her to pieces that even the strictest judge wouldn't fault me for!" that made the scene less bad.

[Dhyerwolf]

Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier) - Oddly enough, I think I agree that the FF7 version is better than the CC version.

Not that odd! I completely agree.

[Magetastic]

DRAMA:
Luca's Last Stand (Suikoden II) vs. Celes' Cliff Dive (FFVI) - Luca's thing felt stylish, but... not very dramatic.
Angelo saves Marcello (DQVIII)  vs. Raksha's Reveal (Soul Nomad) - Not even close.

STYLE:
Cloud Backstabs Sephiroth...literally vs. Birth of Alkaiser (SaGa Frontier)
Voyager's Assault on Elsa (Xenosaga 3) vs. Metal Gear Ziggy (XenoSaga)

HUMOR:
King's Game (Persona 4) vs. Callil's Shop (FE10)
Kon's Super Attack vs. Terra Condor Pre-Fight Scene (Megaman Starforce 2)


MANOS, THE DIVISION OF WRONGNESS:
Lulu are stabbed (Suikoden III)  vs. You Little Hoochies! (Lufia 2) - These inspire absolutely nothing from me, except a feeling that both are... well... bad. That's it.

I refuse to vote on any category that intentionally has bad XS scenes. I'd like to keep that frail bit of my sanity, thankyouverymuch.