# (6)Velvet Crowe vs (11)James Sunderland 2018

_source: (6)Velvet Crowe vs (11)James Sunderland 2018 (revid 85395)_

## Ulti's Analysis

I had to look this up for myself, because I saw it posted during this match and could not believe it. Until this very match right here, Lloyd Irving is the only character from a Tales game to have ever won a match. Ever. None of the other popular characters from those games have ever won. Not Kratos, not Zelos, not Luke fon Fabre, not Yuri Lowell. None of them. I remember crusading back in the day pleading with people to stop nominating these characters, because I adore these games and got so tired of seeing them get flatlined every contest.

Turns out all Tales needed was a super popular main character (popular by Tales standards anyway, I am under no delusion about Tales actually being a popular series) from a recent game to go up against a dumpster fire. James Sunderland was all too happy to bring out his gas can and do his best impersonation of a Vietnamese protestor, because I can't imagine many other spots in this bracket where literal Velvet Crowe breaks 60% on someone. Even Aya Brea, who I believe was the weakest character to actually win a match, couldn't break 60%. I like Silent Hill 2, but those characters will always be absolute bottom tier in these contests.

I'll speak for myself here because I have a casual perspective on a lot of things that I bet translates with a lot of voters. When I play a video game, I want something decidedly unrealistic. Doesn't mean I won't play a realistic game, or even enjoy some realism from my characters. A good example is Solid Snake. He sits there in a world growing more and more insane by the hour, but we appreciate him both for his realism and for the fact that we'll never be like Snake. That's a hard balance to pull off. In other cases, like with a Link or a Mega Man, it's all about having fun. With Dante or Bayonetta or Doom Guy, it's all about beating up some bad guys and being cool af while doing it. With most RPG characters, like Velvet Crowe or Cloud, we get lost in a huge story. There's all kinds of reasons we love a character.

What we don't love are characters where we look at them and go "wow even \*I\* can do that, what's the point?". It's why sports games will never matter here. It's why pro wrestling is done. And it's exactly why James Sunderland is total fodder. Any one of us could waltz through Silent Hill and do exactly what James Sunderland does. He is nothing special. And deep down, the people who were so happy to get him into a bracket all know it. Silent Hill itself is the star of Silent Hill games, not their lame-ass main characters. The villains and the town are the stars in those games, and when you have that paired with characters who control badly, you have a bad formula for contest strength.

Well that plus Konami being complete and total garbage, but I'm saving that rant for Solid Snake's loss to Samus in the loser's bracket. Fuck Konami.

## Lightning Strikes' Analysis

What happened?: This was a slightly debated match. The top tier Tales games (by which I mean Symphonia and Vesperia, mainly Symphonia) are pretty good, but the characters have done badly with the exception of 2005. Lloyd is okay, but doesn't get enough support in nominations to get winnable matches anymore. Yuri isn't a disaster, hovering a bit below the fodder line. Those are the two best comparisons or velvet I think. Silent Hill and its characters have never been good, with even Pyramid Head looking fodder line at best. So this was a match between perennial underperformers in a lot of ways. Then it opens and Velvet just destroys James, especially during the board vote. In some ways this was actually the surprise of the day. Velvet winning wasn't a shock after Aya vs. Sully, but the margin was larger and Velvet wasn't from a 90's Square RPG. In the end this was another debated match turned easy victory, and Tales characters got their first win since Lloyd beat Wesker in 2005.

What could this mean?: Well, this could easily speak to issues of recognisability and picture quality. James Sunderland just being "James" in the options can't have helped him, and Velvet was a cute anime girl with a striking artstyle. I did think James's pic was ok though, it had the distinctive Silent Hill look to it. More than just that I do think Velvet would have won without too much trouble anyway. Berseria is definitely a top tier Tales game, it is one of very few games in that series to sell over a million and is the best reviewed behind Symphonia and Vesperia (other than some rereleases anyway). The series is a mixed bag and this is one of the good ones. At the end of the day, Yuri would probably win this match too and I can't imagine a world in which Velvet's much weaker than him. So Velvet won this match legit, but the other factors might have helped too. Now let's hope this shuts Black Turtle up about how much he hates Tales.

## Safer777's Analysis

This was a somewhat debatable match. You can see that from the prediction percentage too. James is from Silent Hi;; series and man I like these series. I still remember the very first SH game and man I was scared back then. I couldn't even played it at night! Fun times. But Konami decided to mess all up because they don't care about good games anymore, they care about stupid pachinko machines.

Also James is a generic guy and with a generic look too. Both of these were newcomers but Velvet is from the Tales series which is a JRPG series as you know. So since James is really weak she defeated him easily. At least a victory from the Tales series! I think also this is their 2nd victory on the Character Contest too? Well it makes sense. Tales series were never big here anyways.

## Tsunami's Analysis

I initially had James in my bracket because he's the older character and Tales never wins in Character Battles except one other time. Then I remembered that this was likely a fodder match, and the higher seed was the one with the boobs. This line of thinking would let me down once in this contest, but this wasn't it.