Post by Dale on Apr 4, 2007 14:10:13 GMT -8
Hey, all! I thought I'd offer a reader's perspective on the race and everyone's finishing positions! This is for episode nine!
This episode of The Amazing Final Fantasy Race saw the final four teams resuming their journey through the Mushroom Kingdom (at least the version of that world as seen in the game Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars). This very tense leg was a shining example of how thinking smart can really make or break a team as all four teams battled it out for their places in the final three.
Right off the bat, the teams received a non-Detour/non-Roadblock task as they had to compose a short, original melody using singing tadpoles to appease a great composer. The teams that mostly excelled at this were teams with an aesthetic ear for music. Only Steiner and Beatrix fit this bill, as they were the only team that managed to pass up another team in doing this task.
Getting to the Roadblock actually showed that while Shinra and Rufus and Yuna and Rikku had gained an advantage on the last leg by taking the bus made of clouds, it turned out to be a disadvantage on this leg, as they had no clue that they’d actually gone by it. This is where traveling by land on the last leg proved to be quite the advantage for Amarant and Lani and Steiner and Beatrix, as their teams had seen the location of this leg’s Roadblock ahead of time and knew where to go to find it.
The Roadblock had one team member searching a church for three pieces of a Marrymore bride’s wedding gear: shoes, a ring, and a brooch. The catch in this task was that the chosen team member had to stay quiet at all times, as the church had round-the-clock weddings going on, or else he or she would be thrown out of the church and be forced to start all over again. This only affected Steiner, but he thought of a smart way to avoid making a sound that must be commended — by removing the noisy chest plate of his armor.
En route to the Detour, navigational problems plagued two teams who had the bad luck of getting a bad map that was completely backwards except for the text on it. However, while one team picked up on this discrepancy, the other (somewhat understandably) ignored it. The former team went on to deservedly win the leg, while the latter team went on to deservedly be eliminated.
The Detour had teams choosing between Cross, which had them crossing a bridge made of a material known as “donuts” that were susceptible to dropping (and, as a twist, having Bullet Bills fired at them while they were trying to cross), or Fire, which had them using a cannon to fire a Spiny up a mountain and into a small hole. Both tasks definitely had their pros and cons, but the smarter choice was definitely choosing the straightforward task, Cross. Fire was more of a luck-based task for accurate shooters, like Steiner proved to be.
The final three has been determined at last, and it’s probably not what anybody would’ve expected. But even with no more eliminations from here on, the teams still have one more leg to worry about avoiding last place before just worrying about staying at the front of the pack on the leg after that. So going into the final legs, which teams were thinking smart in episode nine?
Amarant and Lani: First place, for the first time in the race. The coworkers did a very good job on this leg. Lani composed a simple (but odd) tune that got them out of the music task fast, and the team remembered the way to the Roadblock having passed it on the previous leg. Amarant quietly and easily maneuvered his way through the Roadblock, collecting all three items quickly and efficiently. They hit a bit of a snag en route to the Detour, as they realized their map and the locations on it were printed backwards, but they remedied their mistake quickly enough to make it to the Detour in second. As a result of smartly choosing the faster Cross Detour, they found themselves hitting the mat first and winning a day of relaxation in some hot springs — and the first spot in the final three — as their well-deserved reward. Good job to both of them.
Shinra and Rufus: The father and son ran a fairly solid leg, taking a good guess as to which way to go to find the Roadblock. Rufus completed said Roadblock in pretty good time. They made it out of there in third place, but going the right way to the Detour (good navigation or just good luck, I don’t know for sure) got them there first. They chose the luck-based Fire Detour, though (out of fear that Shinra would be too heavy for the donuts), and struggled with it for quite a bit. Still, they finally got the hang of the cannon and snagged the second place in the final three for their efforts. Nice work.
Yuna and Rikku: The cousins ran a pretty bad leg — so bad, in fact, that it’s a surprise they weren’t eliminated! Rikku bungled the music task, which allowed Steiner and Beatrix to pass them. Then, they made things worse with navigation woes, incorrectly guessing the direction in which to head for Marrymore, allowing the two trailing teams to pass them. This dropped them to last going into the Roadblock when they finally got there. Yuna used her knowledge of accessories to blow through the Roadblock, collecting the items quickly, but they still got out of there in last place. They got insanely lucky when they spotted Amarant and Lani backtracking and going the right way to the Detour, which they struggled with by choosing the Cross Detour and failing at it seventeen times. Frankly, if not for Steiner and Beatrix’s failure to pick up on the problem with their bad map in time, this team would’ve been eliminated instead of taking the last spot in the final three.
Steiner and Beatrix: What went wrong? A bad map, and the failure to realize it. It is understandable that the dating knights thought their map was right, but they should have picked up on the problem the moment they saw Amarant and Lani turn around, or at least after going a little bit farther without seeing a clue box. Had they done so, then based on how quickly they completed the Fire Detour, they most likely would have found themselves winning the leg rather than being eliminated. That said, they were my favorite team in the race, and they definitely looked like a couple that was really, truly in love. I’m sorry they didn’t make it to the end, and I’m really going to miss them.
This episode of The Amazing Final Fantasy Race saw the final four teams resuming their journey through the Mushroom Kingdom (at least the version of that world as seen in the game Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars). This very tense leg was a shining example of how thinking smart can really make or break a team as all four teams battled it out for their places in the final three.
Right off the bat, the teams received a non-Detour/non-Roadblock task as they had to compose a short, original melody using singing tadpoles to appease a great composer. The teams that mostly excelled at this were teams with an aesthetic ear for music. Only Steiner and Beatrix fit this bill, as they were the only team that managed to pass up another team in doing this task.
Getting to the Roadblock actually showed that while Shinra and Rufus and Yuna and Rikku had gained an advantage on the last leg by taking the bus made of clouds, it turned out to be a disadvantage on this leg, as they had no clue that they’d actually gone by it. This is where traveling by land on the last leg proved to be quite the advantage for Amarant and Lani and Steiner and Beatrix, as their teams had seen the location of this leg’s Roadblock ahead of time and knew where to go to find it.
The Roadblock had one team member searching a church for three pieces of a Marrymore bride’s wedding gear: shoes, a ring, and a brooch. The catch in this task was that the chosen team member had to stay quiet at all times, as the church had round-the-clock weddings going on, or else he or she would be thrown out of the church and be forced to start all over again. This only affected Steiner, but he thought of a smart way to avoid making a sound that must be commended — by removing the noisy chest plate of his armor.
En route to the Detour, navigational problems plagued two teams who had the bad luck of getting a bad map that was completely backwards except for the text on it. However, while one team picked up on this discrepancy, the other (somewhat understandably) ignored it. The former team went on to deservedly win the leg, while the latter team went on to deservedly be eliminated.
The Detour had teams choosing between Cross, which had them crossing a bridge made of a material known as “donuts” that were susceptible to dropping (and, as a twist, having Bullet Bills fired at them while they were trying to cross), or Fire, which had them using a cannon to fire a Spiny up a mountain and into a small hole. Both tasks definitely had their pros and cons, but the smarter choice was definitely choosing the straightforward task, Cross. Fire was more of a luck-based task for accurate shooters, like Steiner proved to be.
The final three has been determined at last, and it’s probably not what anybody would’ve expected. But even with no more eliminations from here on, the teams still have one more leg to worry about avoiding last place before just worrying about staying at the front of the pack on the leg after that. So going into the final legs, which teams were thinking smart in episode nine?
Amarant and Lani: First place, for the first time in the race. The coworkers did a very good job on this leg. Lani composed a simple (but odd) tune that got them out of the music task fast, and the team remembered the way to the Roadblock having passed it on the previous leg. Amarant quietly and easily maneuvered his way through the Roadblock, collecting all three items quickly and efficiently. They hit a bit of a snag en route to the Detour, as they realized their map and the locations on it were printed backwards, but they remedied their mistake quickly enough to make it to the Detour in second. As a result of smartly choosing the faster Cross Detour, they found themselves hitting the mat first and winning a day of relaxation in some hot springs — and the first spot in the final three — as their well-deserved reward. Good job to both of them.
Shinra and Rufus: The father and son ran a fairly solid leg, taking a good guess as to which way to go to find the Roadblock. Rufus completed said Roadblock in pretty good time. They made it out of there in third place, but going the right way to the Detour (good navigation or just good luck, I don’t know for sure) got them there first. They chose the luck-based Fire Detour, though (out of fear that Shinra would be too heavy for the donuts), and struggled with it for quite a bit. Still, they finally got the hang of the cannon and snagged the second place in the final three for their efforts. Nice work.
Yuna and Rikku: The cousins ran a pretty bad leg — so bad, in fact, that it’s a surprise they weren’t eliminated! Rikku bungled the music task, which allowed Steiner and Beatrix to pass them. Then, they made things worse with navigation woes, incorrectly guessing the direction in which to head for Marrymore, allowing the two trailing teams to pass them. This dropped them to last going into the Roadblock when they finally got there. Yuna used her knowledge of accessories to blow through the Roadblock, collecting the items quickly, but they still got out of there in last place. They got insanely lucky when they spotted Amarant and Lani backtracking and going the right way to the Detour, which they struggled with by choosing the Cross Detour and failing at it seventeen times. Frankly, if not for Steiner and Beatrix’s failure to pick up on the problem with their bad map in time, this team would’ve been eliminated instead of taking the last spot in the final three.
Steiner and Beatrix: What went wrong? A bad map, and the failure to realize it. It is understandable that the dating knights thought their map was right, but they should have picked up on the problem the moment they saw Amarant and Lani turn around, or at least after going a little bit farther without seeing a clue box. Had they done so, then based on how quickly they completed the Fire Detour, they most likely would have found themselves winning the leg rather than being eliminated. That said, they were my favorite team in the race, and they definitely looked like a couple that was really, truly in love. I’m sorry they didn’t make it to the end, and I’m really going to miss them.
