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Post by Fleck on Dec 25, 2007 19:11:50 GMT -8
I think its coming out good. I agree on the whole thing with Barret and Dyne, but as for Zone and watts.... Even if Zone and Watts win the entire game, I will still stand by my opinion that they suck. Why, you ask? Yes, they were "Resistance Fighters"...... technically. You also make the comment that they never got crushed. That's because they were so small, unnoticable, and insignificant that no one cared to crush them. Kinda like stepping on an amoeba. Think about it. Their entire operation consisted of three main people, one of whom only joined because of her issues with her father, and a handful of random people so unimportant that they didn't even warrant names. Even with the help of mercenaries, their first big mission went horribly, horribly awry. They were like a bunch of eight-year-olds running around with sticks and bandannas calling themselves pirates. Even by their own confession, they weren't the biggest or most important of many, many factions in Timber. And their grand plan? Hijack the train the president is traveling on and.... talk to him? Even Squall finds the time to push aside his emo feelings long enough to tell them how ridiculous they are. Futhermore, they got tricked by an unreliable source and nearly got everyone killed/arrested. In short, they were rank amateurs pretending they were something more. After Rinoa leaves the group, they don't do a damn thing. This "planning" you speak of? Their plans fell apart. Accustomed to risk? They ran away and hid when they failed! In terms of revolutionaries, Zone and Watts are on par with vandalists.
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Post by Bob on Dec 25, 2007 20:15:38 GMT -8
Ouch! My amoeba!
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Post by Dale on Dec 31, 2007 17:18:06 GMT -8
Okay, having had a time away from the holidays, I'll weigh in now.
Several posts up, Fleck said who he thinks the F5 (final five, in reality fan-speak) will be. Barring any serious missteps, I can definitely see Reno & Rude making it that far. Fran & Balthier and Freya & Fratley wouldn't surprise me, either. Ma & Zell are a wild card. But I think you could swap out Zone & Watts with Dona & Barthello, as both teams actually did pretty well on the first leg. Maybe Cecil & Rosa, too, as their only slip-ups were at the Junon airport and the Fame Detour.
Early exits? I mainly see Brahne & Garnet and Cid & Celes as potential candidates for the next elimination. In my own race, Reina & Faris made a very early exit, so I wouldn't be surprised if Bob did the same thing with them. Biran & Yenke may definitely go out early if they don't shape up.
And expanding only slightly on the Zone & Watts resistance fighters argument . . . as resistance fighters, they sucked. Flat-out. Plain and simple. Rinoa was easily the most productive member of that group. Which makes it even more baffling that she was probably among the least productive racers of season one (along with Jenova and Strago).
As well as Reno & Rude did on the first leg, though, I don't see them winning. I don't quite think Bob would have two FF7 teams win in a row (though they might, but I'll think it'll suck). So that knocks them out of it. They'll last long, likely, but not win. So with that in mind, I want Fran & Balthier to win. Ma & Zell if they don't (they really surprised me in this first episode). Haven't really boldly established anyone I'm particularly rooting for other than those teams, which doesn't speak well for the "casting" of the season on the whole. *SPOILER-ISH* And hey, a parent/child team actually made the F4 on the current season of the real show, so I won't be surprised if Ma & Zell do make it that far, too.*/SPOILER-ISH*
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Post by nobodyspecial on Dec 31, 2007 22:21:33 GMT -8
I only really have one argument with that, if Reno & Rude were good enough to win, then just because it would mean two FF7 teams winning in a row shouldn't stop them.
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Post by Fleck on Jan 1, 2008 1:38:38 GMT -8
*SPOILER-ISH* And hey, a parent/child team actually made the F4 on the current season of the real show, so I won't be surprised if Ma & Zell do make it that far, too.*/SPOILER-ISH* While we're on the topic of Amazing Race spoilers, I'll just take a moment to shed a few tears for my beloved Goths. Oh, how they shall be missed. Bob's rooting for Nick Cage and his girlfriend is rooting for the hippies. That leaves me with Team Conditional Love and Team "Who's Your Daddy?", neither of which I like (at our apartment, we make up our own names for teams). I think I'll root for Team Conditional Love to die in a bus accident. Anyway, back to the fake race. I said I thought Fran/Balthier, Rude/Reno, Cecil/Rosa, Reina/Faris, and Freya/Frately would be my top five and I.... mostly stand by that. I know it's lame to change my mind now, but if I could, I'd knock Reina and Faris a few rungs down and put Freya/Fratley in the top three. Otherwise, I still stand by my initial judgment. In all honestly, because Freya/Frately, Fran/Balthier, and Rude/Reno kicked SO much ass in the first episode, I have trouble seeing how anyone else other than one of those three could win.
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Post by nobodyspecial on Jan 1, 2008 2:08:16 GMT -8
True, the teams were not very balanced...
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Post by Dale on Jan 1, 2008 17:40:38 GMT -8
I had no idea you took up the real show, too, Fleck. (I do like the daughter, though.)
And yes, this is a highly-unbalanced cast. It's obvious who'll be there near the end, who'll fall out in the middle, and who isn't long for this race. At least in season one, the rankings were shuffled up so often, it seemed like almost everyone (except Strago & Relm) had about even chances of winning. Maybe some stronger teams will emerge later on, but for now, I see the top six finishers as being the F6.
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Post by Fleck on Jan 2, 2008 0:00:40 GMT -8
I had no idea you took up the real show, too, Fleck. (I do like the daughter, though.) Bob talked me into it when this season began (actually, I'm not entirely sure how I got into it, but I'll blame Bob anyway, because it's probably his fault. Like AIDS). I wanted to see how the real race went so I could make comparisons and get some of the references and stuff. And then I started rooting for the goths fairly early on and I really started getting into it (in my mind, no sporting/racing event is worth watching unless you're rooting for somebody). And then they had to go and get cut. Stupid Kynt, U-Turning the wrong people! By the way, Bob. Are you gonna do Yields or U-Turns in this season?
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Post by Dale on Jan 2, 2008 5:31:46 GMT -8
Stupid Kynt, U-Turning the wrong people! I was screaming at him for five minutes for not listening to Vyxsin. Yeah, I'd definitely like to know if the Yields are staying or the U-Turns are taking their place this go-round. The U-Turn replaced the Yield on the real show, so it'd be good to know if Bob's going to do the same.
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Post by Bob on Jan 2, 2008 23:59:46 GMT -8
Poor Gothies...
Onto Yield vs U-Turn.... if you REALLY don't care to be surprised... then the answer is.... I dunno yet. I was all set on Yields until U-Turns turned out to be kinda fun. I might miss Yields though, so I'm still putting some consideration into it. So honestly, I may use Yields, I may use U-Turns, and I may use both. A combination could be interesting too, but what the hell would you call it? Do a previous Detour OR wait for a while...
And before you ask, I dunno about non-elimination penalties either. Speed Bumps ARE interesting, but the other stuff is too.... Marked for Elims... So many choices!
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Post by Fleck on Jan 3, 2008 1:01:32 GMT -8
A combination could be interesting too, but what the hell would you call it? Do a previous Detour OR wait for a while... You could call them "Road Constructions." Take a Detour or wait it out! I don't know how you can miss Yields. I always thought they were kind of boring. Okay, you've been yielded. Now you have to.... sit here.......and do nothing........ twiddling your thumbs is optional. At least with U-Turns, the teams are doing something. And since they're doing another task and not waiting for a predetermined amount of time, U-Turns have a variable time penalty. A team can totally kick ass on a U-Turn and get revenge later, or they can totally screw everything up and sit there until Gippal has to find them and tell them that they're eliminated. But if you're lazy, Yields are better. "Garnet and Brahne were Yielded. So they sat there for a half hour. Afterwards they blah blah blah" I'm hardly an AR expert (at the time of this writing, I've seen almost all of Season 6 and every episode so far of Season 12), but I've always thought that non-elimination penalties were a bit unfair, because it really depends on the leg. For a money penalty, it can be overcome if most of the leg involves running or taking airplanes but you can get royally screwed if you have to take a lot of cabs. Speed Bumps were kinda cool, but Kynt and Vyxsin got screwed because the entire first part of that leg was a crapload of bunch-up points. They never got a chance to get a decent lead. Whereas if the leg had more cabs and stuff and less "Closed till tomorrow LOL!" stuff in it, they probably would have stood a better chance. And if Kynt didn't keep screwing up, but that's a different story., I guess what I'm trying to say is that the coolness/uncoolness and fairness/unfairness of penalties is dependant on the leg. So I dunno. Go wild. Do them all!
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Post by Dale on Jan 4, 2008 6:40:55 GMT -8
Regarding a better Detour device, I was thinking more of a Road Closed -- you take one Detour and close it off to the others, forcing them to take the other, possibly-harder Detour. It can only be used before you begin the Detour, though, so you can't do it after you've started or completed it. I once hosted an online version of TAR and used this device in my game. It was actually a hit.
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Post by nobodyspecial on Jan 4, 2008 14:56:02 GMT -8
I like it.
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Post by Bob on Jan 4, 2008 21:59:04 GMT -8
Dale, you meant a better Yield/U-Turn option, right? Cuz tampering with the Detour system is forbidden. 404 Access Denied on that one.
Actually I have a couple really cool ideas I'm tossing around. Ya'll will just have to see what's cookin'.
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Post by Dale on Jan 5, 2008 3:05:28 GMT -8
Yes, that's what I meant -- a better version of the U-Turn, basically.
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