Post by Dale on Aug 8, 2007 1:33:38 GMT -8
Hey, all! I thought I'd offer a reader's perspective on the race and everyone's finishing positions! This is for the final episode!
Eight galaxies, seventeen worlds, and countless miles. The Amazing Final Fantasy Race 1 has been interesting from start to finish. The eleven teams that started the race have now been trimmed down to the final three, and those final three teams ran their long-awaited race to the finish line for the one-million-gil prize.
The very first task had teams flying airships to their next clue. With their assistants helping them, they needed to delegate four jobs among the team — one person being the pilot, one person navigating, and the remaining two people shoveling coal to power the engine. The teams really had to play to their strengths and delegate correctly if they hoped to get this right, as long as one member of the actual team piloted the ship. One of the teams put the wrong person in the navigator’s spot, and nearly suffered for it.
The Detour was a choice between Fight, which had the teams staging a fight as part of a small play for a bunch of snobbish nobles, or Knight, which saw them searching a castle for eight knights — Alexandria Castle’s Knights of Pluto, whom are led by fourth-place-finisher Steiner. Teams with a flair for the dramatic were better off choosing Fight, while teams hoping to get lucky made the better choice choosing Knight. One team’s assistant definitely had a good strategy in getting a knight to come to them, which saved them a bit of time, although not much.
Next, the teams had to search a castle for their next clue. Well, that, and battle a giant monster guarding the clue. The task was extremely physical and required the teams to be on their toes the entire time. Any battle strategy would be necessary to beat the monster, and the teams used all the best moves they had at their disposal.
The race moved on to Macalania Temple after the difficult battle. Once inside the temple, the teams had to complete something that must’ve proven frustrating to everyone who ever played Final Fantasy 10 — the Cloister of Trials. They had to complete this challenge to find a Destruction Sphere that would open the way to a treasure chest containing their next clue. This task required the teams to be careful, logical, and methodical in their search. And then, once found, use the right method to obtain it. One team found it without much effort, while the other two teams essentially ended up lucking into finding them.
Battling machina was the next challenge. Much like battling the giant monster in the castle, not much was required except for a good battle strategy going in. One team had an expert in taking down machina, and thrived for it. Another team struggled as a result of not having Thunder magic to easily fry the machina’s circuits. And one team . . . was not shown having much of their battle, so it’s hard to say if they struggled or not.
The Roadblock was an interesting one. It saw one member per team matching up cardboard cutouts of each eliminated team with cardboard cutouts of the greeter who stood with Gippal at each Pit Stop when that team was eliminated. (To remind you, the greeters were Owzer for Jenova & Sephiroth, Arvis for Tifa & Paine, Johnny for Squall & Rinoa, Dalton for Strago & Relm, Evil Robot Horace for Edgar & Sabin, the Beast for Fujin & Raijin, Frogfucius for Auron & Jecht, and Mallow for Steiner & Beatrix.) But as an added twist, cardboard cutouts of the greeters who stood at Pit Stops on the two non-elimination legs were also included, and teams had to remember not to use them. (To remind you, those greeters were Maeda for Amarant & Lani’s non-elimination and Regent Cid for Shinra & Rufus’s non-elimination.) This task basically required a good memory to complete it, and I’d say those that completed it had fairly good ones.
The final task was a quick search on a thunder-filled plain for one of several rocks with a Cactaur pictured on it. Behind each one was a clue. This task seemed to make all the difference, as where the teams found their final clues pretty much determined the final results.
Along the way, a new twist emerged in this leg. Yet another one that’s never been seen on the American or Asian versions — the Stop Sign. Using this new race mechanic, the two members of the actual teams were forced to essentially eliminate (or, in this case, re-eliminate) one of their assistants and basically continue on without that assistant. This twist emerged twice on the final leg, so ultimately, both assistants were left behind at different points.
But the teams needed to be strategic about how they used them. The right way to use the Stop Signs was pretty much using the first one on the weaker assistant, or the one they didn’t gel with well enough, while saving the second one for the stronger assistant, or the one they worked better with. I’d say all three teams did this right, as all of them got rid of their less useful assistants first before getting rid of the more useful ones.
After eleven fun, tension-filled episodes, the race has finally ended, and first, second, and third place have all been decided. But while each of the teams ran very good races, which teams were thinking smart in the final episode?
Shinra & Rufus: First place for the very first time — and at just the right time, too! They started out really well, leading their team through a shortcut Shinra found to cut ahead of Yuna & Rikku and Amarant & Lani in getting to the final Detour in their airship. The father and son definitely balanced each other out, working hard to pilot their ship and navigate it correctly. They chose Fight for the Detour, which I think was probably the right choice for them, and finished it fairly fast. With Edgar’s help, they also searched the castle pretty quickly. Relm deserves the credit for helping them defeat the monster with her Manipulate ability. Still, the team made the right choice in Stopping her, as she was definitely a weaker assistant than Edgar. They struggled through Macalania Temple’s Cloister of Trials and fell behind when they couldn’t figure out how to complete it, but through a lot of luck, they located the Destruction Sphere they needed and found its recess in no time. They also struggled with the machina battle, but thanks to Edgar and his drill, they were victorious and left that task in second. After Stopping Edgar, they managed to catch up to Yuna & Rikku at the final Roadblock when Rufus quickly completed the cardboard cutout puzzle and took the lead. The final blow that guaranteed their victory, though, was a bluff from Shinra. By tricking the cousins into finding their clue behind a Cactaur rock farther from the exit to the Thunder Plains, and then getting one for themselves that was closer to the exit, the team got just the buffer they needed to run to the finish line in the lead and cross it first!
While I wanted Yuna & Rikku to win, I’m fine with Shinra & Rufus being the official winners of The Amazing Final Fantasy Race. Not only did they repeat the feat of the odious Eric & Danielle in The Amazing Race: All-Stars and the lovely Zabrina & Joe Jer in The Amazing Race: Asia 1 by winning the whole race without a prior leg win, they became the first parent/child team ever to win (in fictional terms)! And they did so despite having a fat, out-of-shape member on their team! Congratulations!
Yuna & Rikku: The cousins also ran a very good final leg, although they began it by hitting a bit of a snag in the form of one of their standard navigational snafus in their airship. After they got over Yuna’s error, they made it to the Detour in last and correctly chose the Knight Detour. Though there was a bit of luck on their part, they completed the Detour fairly fast and were on their way to the castle. Paine and Squall were really the ones to thank for the monster’s easy defeat. I guess since they don’t gel as well with him as they do with Paine, Squall was the right one for them to Stop after the battle was over. Thanks to their local knowledge, they were fairly fast in completing the Cloister of Trials and managed to take the lead for the first time on the leg. Rikku being knowledgable about machina and the Al Bhed language helped them maintain their lead during the machina battle. After Paine had been Stopped, they made their way to the Roadblock, which Yuna took. But she struggled quite a bit after working hard for their lead, allowing Rufus to pass them. But she finally matched everything up just a few seconds after Rufus did and was on her way with Rikku. However, their second-place finish was practically guaranteed when they fell for Shinra’s bluff and went for a Cactaur rock closer to them, rather than one closer to the exit of the Thunder Plains. Despite their superior running speed and nearly catching up, there was nothing that could save the cousins from coming in second behind Shinra & Rufus after that mistake.
Nevertheless, a good race run by Yuna & Rikku. For a team that was nearly eliminated on the first leg and seemed like an early boot from the get-go, they really grew as racers throughout the race and actually became one of the strongest teams in it, winning three legs — more legs than any other team in the race! Plus, they were the only team this season who never once finished last on a leg, including the final one! They really would have deserved to win almost as much as, if not more than, Shinra & Rufus.
Amarant & Lani: The coworkers got off to a good start in getting to the Detour on their airship in second place, but things all seemed to go downhill from there. They ran into a lot of bad luck in finding the Knights of Pluto. Only a bit of time was saved by Rinoa feigning a distress call to get one of them to where the team was. Due to their bad luck, they left the Detour in last place and had to hurry to catch up at the castle. Again, thanks in small part to Rinoa (but in larger part to Amarant), they defeated the giant monster fairly fast. They correctly chose to Stop Rinoa, as they definitely needed Jecht going forward. It was at the Cloister of Trials task, however, that this team fell entirely out of the picture. They had a lot of trouble finding the Destruction Sphere, even despite Jecht’s local knowledge, and didn’t find it until both of the two leading teams had finished battling the machina. I can’t make much of their own battle with them, but I’d guess they actually finished it quickly. Unfortunately, other than Stopping Jecht, there really wasn’t much else they could do to get back in the game unless Rufus and Yuna really struggled with the final Roadblock, which neither of them did all that much. Because the two teams in front of them got too far ahead of them to really do anything else, this team understandably, but appallingly, gave up before the final Roadblock and ultimately finished the race in third place without even crossing the finish line. Kind of like a Joe & Bill (Team Guido, The Amazing Race 1)/David & Jeff (The Amazing Race 4) ending for them.
Amarant & Lani were the strongest team in the race going into the finale, but they were never really in it after all their bad luck at the Detour and their bad racing at Macalania Temple. While they technically deserved to win the most of the final three teams, I’m not at all sad they didn’t. I did like them, but the least of the remaining teams left. The way they treated one another — particularly, the way Lani treated Amarant — was truly abhorrent and definitely had me rooting against their victory. Unlike Auron & Jecht, they weren’t as entertaining a villain team and really did not keep things as interesting as the grizzled old guys did. All that said, I wish Lani the best in her pursuit of Amarant for a romantic relationship and hope things turn out well for them in the future.
Eight galaxies, seventeen worlds, and countless miles. The Amazing Final Fantasy Race 1 has been interesting from start to finish. The eleven teams that started the race have now been trimmed down to the final three, and those final three teams ran their long-awaited race to the finish line for the one-million-gil prize.
The very first task had teams flying airships to their next clue. With their assistants helping them, they needed to delegate four jobs among the team — one person being the pilot, one person navigating, and the remaining two people shoveling coal to power the engine. The teams really had to play to their strengths and delegate correctly if they hoped to get this right, as long as one member of the actual team piloted the ship. One of the teams put the wrong person in the navigator’s spot, and nearly suffered for it.
The Detour was a choice between Fight, which had the teams staging a fight as part of a small play for a bunch of snobbish nobles, or Knight, which saw them searching a castle for eight knights — Alexandria Castle’s Knights of Pluto, whom are led by fourth-place-finisher Steiner. Teams with a flair for the dramatic were better off choosing Fight, while teams hoping to get lucky made the better choice choosing Knight. One team’s assistant definitely had a good strategy in getting a knight to come to them, which saved them a bit of time, although not much.
Next, the teams had to search a castle for their next clue. Well, that, and battle a giant monster guarding the clue. The task was extremely physical and required the teams to be on their toes the entire time. Any battle strategy would be necessary to beat the monster, and the teams used all the best moves they had at their disposal.
The race moved on to Macalania Temple after the difficult battle. Once inside the temple, the teams had to complete something that must’ve proven frustrating to everyone who ever played Final Fantasy 10 — the Cloister of Trials. They had to complete this challenge to find a Destruction Sphere that would open the way to a treasure chest containing their next clue. This task required the teams to be careful, logical, and methodical in their search. And then, once found, use the right method to obtain it. One team found it without much effort, while the other two teams essentially ended up lucking into finding them.
Battling machina was the next challenge. Much like battling the giant monster in the castle, not much was required except for a good battle strategy going in. One team had an expert in taking down machina, and thrived for it. Another team struggled as a result of not having Thunder magic to easily fry the machina’s circuits. And one team . . . was not shown having much of their battle, so it’s hard to say if they struggled or not.
The Roadblock was an interesting one. It saw one member per team matching up cardboard cutouts of each eliminated team with cardboard cutouts of the greeter who stood with Gippal at each Pit Stop when that team was eliminated. (To remind you, the greeters were Owzer for Jenova & Sephiroth, Arvis for Tifa & Paine, Johnny for Squall & Rinoa, Dalton for Strago & Relm, Evil Robot Horace for Edgar & Sabin, the Beast for Fujin & Raijin, Frogfucius for Auron & Jecht, and Mallow for Steiner & Beatrix.) But as an added twist, cardboard cutouts of the greeters who stood at Pit Stops on the two non-elimination legs were also included, and teams had to remember not to use them. (To remind you, those greeters were Maeda for Amarant & Lani’s non-elimination and Regent Cid for Shinra & Rufus’s non-elimination.) This task basically required a good memory to complete it, and I’d say those that completed it had fairly good ones.
The final task was a quick search on a thunder-filled plain for one of several rocks with a Cactaur pictured on it. Behind each one was a clue. This task seemed to make all the difference, as where the teams found their final clues pretty much determined the final results.
Along the way, a new twist emerged in this leg. Yet another one that’s never been seen on the American or Asian versions — the Stop Sign. Using this new race mechanic, the two members of the actual teams were forced to essentially eliminate (or, in this case, re-eliminate) one of their assistants and basically continue on without that assistant. This twist emerged twice on the final leg, so ultimately, both assistants were left behind at different points.
But the teams needed to be strategic about how they used them. The right way to use the Stop Signs was pretty much using the first one on the weaker assistant, or the one they didn’t gel with well enough, while saving the second one for the stronger assistant, or the one they worked better with. I’d say all three teams did this right, as all of them got rid of their less useful assistants first before getting rid of the more useful ones.
After eleven fun, tension-filled episodes, the race has finally ended, and first, second, and third place have all been decided. But while each of the teams ran very good races, which teams were thinking smart in the final episode?
Shinra & Rufus: First place for the very first time — and at just the right time, too! They started out really well, leading their team through a shortcut Shinra found to cut ahead of Yuna & Rikku and Amarant & Lani in getting to the final Detour in their airship. The father and son definitely balanced each other out, working hard to pilot their ship and navigate it correctly. They chose Fight for the Detour, which I think was probably the right choice for them, and finished it fairly fast. With Edgar’s help, they also searched the castle pretty quickly. Relm deserves the credit for helping them defeat the monster with her Manipulate ability. Still, the team made the right choice in Stopping her, as she was definitely a weaker assistant than Edgar. They struggled through Macalania Temple’s Cloister of Trials and fell behind when they couldn’t figure out how to complete it, but through a lot of luck, they located the Destruction Sphere they needed and found its recess in no time. They also struggled with the machina battle, but thanks to Edgar and his drill, they were victorious and left that task in second. After Stopping Edgar, they managed to catch up to Yuna & Rikku at the final Roadblock when Rufus quickly completed the cardboard cutout puzzle and took the lead. The final blow that guaranteed their victory, though, was a bluff from Shinra. By tricking the cousins into finding their clue behind a Cactaur rock farther from the exit to the Thunder Plains, and then getting one for themselves that was closer to the exit, the team got just the buffer they needed to run to the finish line in the lead and cross it first!
While I wanted Yuna & Rikku to win, I’m fine with Shinra & Rufus being the official winners of The Amazing Final Fantasy Race. Not only did they repeat the feat of the odious Eric & Danielle in The Amazing Race: All-Stars and the lovely Zabrina & Joe Jer in The Amazing Race: Asia 1 by winning the whole race without a prior leg win, they became the first parent/child team ever to win (in fictional terms)! And they did so despite having a fat, out-of-shape member on their team! Congratulations!
Yuna & Rikku: The cousins also ran a very good final leg, although they began it by hitting a bit of a snag in the form of one of their standard navigational snafus in their airship. After they got over Yuna’s error, they made it to the Detour in last and correctly chose the Knight Detour. Though there was a bit of luck on their part, they completed the Detour fairly fast and were on their way to the castle. Paine and Squall were really the ones to thank for the monster’s easy defeat. I guess since they don’t gel as well with him as they do with Paine, Squall was the right one for them to Stop after the battle was over. Thanks to their local knowledge, they were fairly fast in completing the Cloister of Trials and managed to take the lead for the first time on the leg. Rikku being knowledgable about machina and the Al Bhed language helped them maintain their lead during the machina battle. After Paine had been Stopped, they made their way to the Roadblock, which Yuna took. But she struggled quite a bit after working hard for their lead, allowing Rufus to pass them. But she finally matched everything up just a few seconds after Rufus did and was on her way with Rikku. However, their second-place finish was practically guaranteed when they fell for Shinra’s bluff and went for a Cactaur rock closer to them, rather than one closer to the exit of the Thunder Plains. Despite their superior running speed and nearly catching up, there was nothing that could save the cousins from coming in second behind Shinra & Rufus after that mistake.
Nevertheless, a good race run by Yuna & Rikku. For a team that was nearly eliminated on the first leg and seemed like an early boot from the get-go, they really grew as racers throughout the race and actually became one of the strongest teams in it, winning three legs — more legs than any other team in the race! Plus, they were the only team this season who never once finished last on a leg, including the final one! They really would have deserved to win almost as much as, if not more than, Shinra & Rufus.
Amarant & Lani: The coworkers got off to a good start in getting to the Detour on their airship in second place, but things all seemed to go downhill from there. They ran into a lot of bad luck in finding the Knights of Pluto. Only a bit of time was saved by Rinoa feigning a distress call to get one of them to where the team was. Due to their bad luck, they left the Detour in last place and had to hurry to catch up at the castle. Again, thanks in small part to Rinoa (but in larger part to Amarant), they defeated the giant monster fairly fast. They correctly chose to Stop Rinoa, as they definitely needed Jecht going forward. It was at the Cloister of Trials task, however, that this team fell entirely out of the picture. They had a lot of trouble finding the Destruction Sphere, even despite Jecht’s local knowledge, and didn’t find it until both of the two leading teams had finished battling the machina. I can’t make much of their own battle with them, but I’d guess they actually finished it quickly. Unfortunately, other than Stopping Jecht, there really wasn’t much else they could do to get back in the game unless Rufus and Yuna really struggled with the final Roadblock, which neither of them did all that much. Because the two teams in front of them got too far ahead of them to really do anything else, this team understandably, but appallingly, gave up before the final Roadblock and ultimately finished the race in third place without even crossing the finish line. Kind of like a Joe & Bill (Team Guido, The Amazing Race 1)/David & Jeff (The Amazing Race 4) ending for them.
Amarant & Lani were the strongest team in the race going into the finale, but they were never really in it after all their bad luck at the Detour and their bad racing at Macalania Temple. While they technically deserved to win the most of the final three teams, I’m not at all sad they didn’t. I did like them, but the least of the remaining teams left. The way they treated one another — particularly, the way Lani treated Amarant — was truly abhorrent and definitely had me rooting against their victory. Unlike Auron & Jecht, they weren’t as entertaining a villain team and really did not keep things as interesting as the grizzled old guys did. All that said, I wish Lani the best in her pursuit of Amarant for a romantic relationship and hope things turn out well for them in the future.
