Cross-Game Battle Royale!
A couple of months back, I found this fic, a FF7/FF8 crossover. Now, normally, I'm not for crossovers, but this was obviously thought through and considered on both sides. And it's . . . beautiful. Anyway. The point of this is, I was thinking-and prompted by one such instance-about who would win in certain fights.
Now, we have the established fight (as in, there was an instance of these in the story, or rather there was the potential for it). We have:
1. Tifa x Zell (this was a sparring match in the story, but think about it as a real fight)
There are also a couple other fights that I thought would be . . . interesting to see, even if they don't show up in the story, and which are pretty evenly matched:
2. Cloud x Squall
3. Vincent x Irvine
And then we have the random fights that just amuse me:
4. Cid x Squall
5. Vincent x Seifer
6. Cloud x Zell
7. Tifa x Selphie
8. Cid x Quistis
9. Cloud x Seifer
10. Cloud x Zell
11. Tifa x Quistis
12. Vincent x Selphie
13. Vincent x Rinoa
Now, all of these take into account GFs, Magic and Materia. Everybody is Junctioned appropriately, and there's an even distribution of Magic to Materia (meaning that a Curaga is equal to a Cure3, and all that. When the magic doesn't match up, it isn't valid in these fights, we'll say). Limit Breaks and Summoning is perfectly fine.
Who would win?
Because this is story was set pre-AC, nobody's really had the time to cool off from the final battle against Sephiroth in the game. Also, this is pretty soon post-End of Game for FF8. Everybody's still really strong.
1. Tifa x Zell A hard match. If we removed all Magic and Materia and GFs, Tifa would win this fight hands down, because all Zell could do was attack and do LB; Tifa, at least, would still have items at her disposal. However, with Materia, her HP lowers, while his improves with GFs and Magic. She has a better base speed than Zell, but in his LB and with Magic, they're basically evenly matched. Zell has a slight upper hand in the size department; even though he's shorter than her, as a man, he has more natural bulk; he can hit harder than she can. (In the story, they both end up pretty bruised and beaten). My gut reaction to this fight tells me to put my money on Zell, but Tifa's a tricksy little minx. She'd pull something out of her hat. Fight goes to Tifa
2. Cloud x Squall Not quite an even match because of the difference in weapons, but they're the closest in fighting styles. Both are long-ranged that can act in the short-range very well, and both are very strong. Cloud has a detriment in that he is slowed down by the size of his weapon (Ultima in the story, but any weapon is bigger and heavier than Squall's), and Squall's youth gives him a bit more agility and speed. Also, like Tifa, Materia brings down Cloud's HP. Squall's LB, especially Lionheart, would do more than enough damage to take Cloud down, even if he had Barrier. Fight goes to Squall
3. Vincent x Irvine Yay, gunmen. Both work with a rifle/shotgun, both are very strong in stats, even considering the Materia detriment on Vincent's part. Vincent has an immediate upper hand because of his LB; while Irvine's Pulse, Demolition and AP Ammo is very nice, if you get Vincent into LB, it's a quick and dirty death for Irvine. Chaos and Hellmasker both pack a mean punch, but any of the Demons would cap off a GF and Irvine. Fight goes to Vincent
4. Cid x Squall That lance is a formidable weapon, but so is the gunblade. And, with certain GFs, Squall has an upper hand for what he can do to Cid. If he were relying completely on physical attacks, even with his speed, I think Cid would win. But Squall's better than that. He'd whip out Shiva or Eden or something and totally go to town. Fight goes to Squall
5. Vincent x Seifer While perhaps not as difficult to weigh as Vincent x Irvine, I do have to say that this is a tough fight to call. Seifer's LB is one mean sonofab*tch, even against Vincent's LB. I think this would be a predominately GF based fight, in which case Seifer would go to town; there are only so many times you can call out the FF7 summons, but the FF8 GFs are endless, unless you manage to kill them. Fight Goes to Seifer
6. Cloud x Zell I hate to say it, but even Zell's awesome HP and speed is no match for something that f*cking big. Cloud, though slower, would just have to keep his HP and MP up-cast Barrier and M-Barrier-and the fight would be a piece of cake. Fight goes to Cloud
7. Tifa x Selphie Selphie reminds me a lot of Yuffie, so my initial reaction is the same as the Tifa x Yuffie fight neo_rufus brought up. However, Selphie does have limitless GF summons. And her LB is much more impressive, what with The End and things of that sort. Fight goes to Selphie
8. Cid x Quistis Quistis would take that lance from Cid with one shot from that whip. Fight goes to Quistis
9. Cloud x Seifer A similar fight to Cloud x Squall. In fact, perhaps too similar. Fight goes to Seifer
10. Cloud x Irvine When I think of this, I have to think about two things: How the in-game Cloud x Rufus fight went; and how I think a Cloud x Vincent fight would go. Also, I have to weigh my decision (because that's a toss up; Cloud beats Rufus, but he'd be no match for Vincent's LB) with the fact that Irvine can keep bringing out GFs. In this case, Fight goes to Irvine
11. Tifa x Quistis Hand-to-hand vs Whip. It's a hard call. Especially if Quistis is Junctioned well. Admittedly, this is no Tifa x Zell fight, but it's still a tough call. My gut says Tifa, just on the principle that she's bigger and older than Quistis, but then Quistis has Blue Magic for her LB. And possibly Doomtrain as a GF. With that in account, I have to say Fight goes to Quistis
12. Vincent x Selphie That's just funny. Once again, Selphie is very much a Yuffie-type character. Her LB would make this fight hard, but her HP and speed isn't on par with Vincent's. Fight goes to Vincent
13. Vincent x Rinoa Let's face it. Vincent would cap off Rinoa. Even if Angelo to help, Vincent would kick her sorry butt. Fight goes to Vincent
So, what do you think? And if you could do a cross-game fight, who would it be between and who would win?
Now, we have the established fight (as in, there was an instance of these in the story, or rather there was the potential for it). We have:
1. Tifa x Zell (this was a sparring match in the story, but think about it as a real fight)
There are also a couple other fights that I thought would be . . . interesting to see, even if they don't show up in the story, and which are pretty evenly matched:
2. Cloud x Squall
3. Vincent x Irvine
And then we have the random fights that just amuse me:
4. Cid x Squall
5. Vincent x Seifer
6. Cloud x Zell
7. Tifa x Selphie
8. Cid x Quistis
9. Cloud x Seifer
10. Cloud x Zell
11. Tifa x Quistis
12. Vincent x Selphie
13. Vincent x Rinoa
Now, all of these take into account GFs, Magic and Materia. Everybody is Junctioned appropriately, and there's an even distribution of Magic to Materia (meaning that a Curaga is equal to a Cure3, and all that. When the magic doesn't match up, it isn't valid in these fights, we'll say). Limit Breaks and Summoning is perfectly fine.
Who would win?
Because this is story was set pre-AC, nobody's really had the time to cool off from the final battle against Sephiroth in the game. Also, this is pretty soon post-End of Game for FF8. Everybody's still really strong.
1. Tifa x Zell A hard match. If we removed all Magic and Materia and GFs, Tifa would win this fight hands down, because all Zell could do was attack and do LB; Tifa, at least, would still have items at her disposal. However, with Materia, her HP lowers, while his improves with GFs and Magic. She has a better base speed than Zell, but in his LB and with Magic, they're basically evenly matched. Zell has a slight upper hand in the size department; even though he's shorter than her, as a man, he has more natural bulk; he can hit harder than she can. (In the story, they both end up pretty bruised and beaten). My gut reaction to this fight tells me to put my money on Zell, but Tifa's a tricksy little minx. She'd pull something out of her hat. Fight goes to Tifa
2. Cloud x Squall Not quite an even match because of the difference in weapons, but they're the closest in fighting styles. Both are long-ranged that can act in the short-range very well, and both are very strong. Cloud has a detriment in that he is slowed down by the size of his weapon (Ultima in the story, but any weapon is bigger and heavier than Squall's), and Squall's youth gives him a bit more agility and speed. Also, like Tifa, Materia brings down Cloud's HP. Squall's LB, especially Lionheart, would do more than enough damage to take Cloud down, even if he had Barrier. Fight goes to Squall
3. Vincent x Irvine Yay, gunmen. Both work with a rifle/shotgun, both are very strong in stats, even considering the Materia detriment on Vincent's part. Vincent has an immediate upper hand because of his LB; while Irvine's Pulse, Demolition and AP Ammo is very nice, if you get Vincent into LB, it's a quick and dirty death for Irvine. Chaos and Hellmasker both pack a mean punch, but any of the Demons would cap off a GF and Irvine. Fight goes to Vincent
4. Cid x Squall That lance is a formidable weapon, but so is the gunblade. And, with certain GFs, Squall has an upper hand for what he can do to Cid. If he were relying completely on physical attacks, even with his speed, I think Cid would win. But Squall's better than that. He'd whip out Shiva or Eden or something and totally go to town. Fight goes to Squall
5. Vincent x Seifer While perhaps not as difficult to weigh as Vincent x Irvine, I do have to say that this is a tough fight to call. Seifer's LB is one mean sonofab*tch, even against Vincent's LB. I think this would be a predominately GF based fight, in which case Seifer would go to town; there are only so many times you can call out the FF7 summons, but the FF8 GFs are endless, unless you manage to kill them. Fight Goes to Seifer
6. Cloud x Zell I hate to say it, but even Zell's awesome HP and speed is no match for something that f*cking big. Cloud, though slower, would just have to keep his HP and MP up-cast Barrier and M-Barrier-and the fight would be a piece of cake. Fight goes to Cloud
7. Tifa x Selphie Selphie reminds me a lot of Yuffie, so my initial reaction is the same as the Tifa x Yuffie fight neo_rufus brought up. However, Selphie does have limitless GF summons. And her LB is much more impressive, what with The End and things of that sort. Fight goes to Selphie
8. Cid x Quistis Quistis would take that lance from Cid with one shot from that whip. Fight goes to Quistis
9. Cloud x Seifer A similar fight to Cloud x Squall. In fact, perhaps too similar. Fight goes to Seifer
10. Cloud x Irvine When I think of this, I have to think about two things: How the in-game Cloud x Rufus fight went; and how I think a Cloud x Vincent fight would go. Also, I have to weigh my decision (because that's a toss up; Cloud beats Rufus, but he'd be no match for Vincent's LB) with the fact that Irvine can keep bringing out GFs. In this case, Fight goes to Irvine
11. Tifa x Quistis Hand-to-hand vs Whip. It's a hard call. Especially if Quistis is Junctioned well. Admittedly, this is no Tifa x Zell fight, but it's still a tough call. My gut says Tifa, just on the principle that she's bigger and older than Quistis, but then Quistis has Blue Magic for her LB. And possibly Doomtrain as a GF. With that in account, I have to say Fight goes to Quistis
12. Vincent x Selphie That's just funny. Once again, Selphie is very much a Yuffie-type character. Her LB would make this fight hard, but her HP and speed isn't on par with Vincent's. Fight goes to Vincent
13. Vincent x Rinoa Let's face it. Vincent would cap off Rinoa. Even if Angelo to help, Vincent would kick her sorry butt. Fight goes to Vincent
So, what do you think? And if you could do a cross-game fight, who would it be between and who would win?