Executioner's Shot comes from Vincent. Wait, what?

This is going to sound sound odd, possibly pointless, but an eerie observation just struck me. Allow me to explain, because I seriously doubt many will catch the connection.

When you look at Dual Pistols, what do you tend to think of? Equilibrium? Wanted? Ultra-violet, if you're masochistic enough? The Matrix, maybe, if you have a taste of ever-decreasing quality? All action-packed movies, all fairly recent, all probably true. Some of the more basic pistol attacks are cool, but generic, such that they could have come from any "cool gun" franchise. Bullet Rain is decidedly Wanted, whereas Hail of Bullets (which actually means almost the same thing...) is decidedly Equilibrium. I assume Piercing Rounds COULD be Ultra Violet based on how I've had it described to me, but I've not seen the movie.

What about Executioner's Shot, though? Of all the powers in Dual Pistols, this one is perhaps the most subtly cool, and even "fancy haters" will tend to skip over that one when they ask for "more boring animations." But where is it from? It's kind of like a gunslinger attack, but not really. Gunslingers have one twirl and that's about it. And though the set does have a few gun twirls, most of them are of the "ordinary" backwards-spinning variety. Outside of Executioner's Shot, though? What does that remind you of? Have you guessed it yet? Try a 13-year-old PSX game.

I'm doing a bit of reliving my childhood right now with replaying Final Fantasy 7, and any fan of the game has probably deduced I was going there. For those of us who aren't (are there such people?), let me explain. Vincent is, in a nutshell, a vampire-looking dude with a metal hand and a red cape who shoots a handgun. That, and transforming into beasts is generally his "thing." Shortly after I was able to wake him up from his slumber, I came across a gun that the guide I'm following advised me to give him and use something called a "Death Blow" on. The Death Blow is an attack that ALWAYS causes critical (i.e. double) damage, but slashes your accuracy by a third (or possibly 30%, Final Fantasy 7 is really bad about Real Numbers). Since this handgun is basically a sawed-off bolt-action rifle with a huge sniper scope on top, it has 255% accuracy, or about a maxed-out signed byte's worth. Obviously, the perfect weapon to use a double-damage dealing, inaccurate attack with, right?

Well, see, the thing is that the Death Blow skill, when used, produces a unique, different animation from the one the characters normally use for attacking. Tifa usually does a high punch and a low kick, but using this, she does sort of a spin kick. Vincent normally twirls his gun once before firing (as well as once taking it out, once holstering it, once every once in a while and generally A LOT), but as soon as I saw him use his Death Blow attack, something struck me as oddly familiar. See, he does this overcomplicated motion that's something like a forward spin, then two back spins as he draws his hand back, then another forward spin as he brings his hand forward to fire, and then a BIG shot for double damage that always hits. It took me exactly three applications of the skill for the light bulb to flash and for me to go "Wait a monster-shooting minute! This looks exactly like Executioner's Shot!" I tried to get a video of it, but I met with little success.

And... Wow! Really? Is... Is that what inspired this animation? Really? It's cool, don't get me wrong. I love it! But it's a really bizarre, unexpected place to look for inspiration. It WOULD explain why it's a single pistol shot, too. I mean Vincent's Death Blow could have been copied from our own Executioner's Strike point for point, if his hadn't come 13 years earlier. Of all the over-the-top gun-totting movies, video games and stunts, it surprises me that someone would draw inspiration from Final Fantasy about a GUN. Final Fantasy, the franchise better known for its unorthodox weapons such as the Gunblade, the Wrist-Mounted Dog Launcher and the Blitzball Volleyball. That seems like an odd place to look for inspiration on regular firearms. In fact, having forgotten what Vincent used, I was surprised to see him use something as reserved as A GUN. I thought for sure he's use some demonic axetrident or multi-barrelled chaingun or his bare hands or something.

It's COOL, believe me. Final Fantasy 7 remains one of my favourite games, and that attack still rocks. It just... Really surprises me. Accidental or intentional, it just made my day

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I'm gonna go ahead and assume you said Vincent Vega, since that one is about 1298712903712983x cooler.

I deliberately left it at just the first name just to see how many people are going to guess it, but I'm afraid I don't know who Vincent Vega is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

i knew you were talking about Vincent from FF7. but yeah, Vincent from Pulp Fiction could pop into mind to.

Now that you mentioned it...



City of Vincent Valentines!

My response would be... "Who cares".

You people do really tend to over think stuff or have too much free time. Just leave the animation of the power, or even the whole set, as cool and be done with everything. In this day everything has pretty much been done, especially with all the different genres (TV, comic books, video games, movies, even novels) and as tech improves. Good bet that everything has been done before, nothing really original anymore. I know Vincent "stoled" the move from another source.

I think you're reading way too much into it. You're counting forward and backwards spins? ES looks like any other gun twirl done by someone with a revolver about to shoot.

But who knows, maybe you're right, it's not like FF7 is some obscure game.

Psh, one hit with your gun for critical damage? That ain't no deathblow. Billy Lee Black has deathblows.

What we really need, of course, is shotgun on a string for AR.

And Chainsaw Melee...

As I recall Vincent doesn't change twirling directions during the Deathblow animation like we do with Executioner's Shot. I'm also pretty sure he manages to twirl the gun such that it's not parallel with the palm of his hand somehow.

I'm describing the Deathblow animation he does with pistols, though, you may be talking about the one he does with rifles equipped.

I wondered if we weren't referring to Kirk Douglas' finest role for a moment then...

I mean, it ended with a handgun right?

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

Uhh... actually, I think it's a generic 'finishing shot' animation? It's not like Vincent's is particularly unique or creative.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silverado I'm gonna go ahead and assume you said Vincent Vega, since that one is about 1298712903712983x cooler.

Agreeing with this

Uh, guys? Executioner's shot. Minus the twirl that's the pose handguns are held in for the stereotypical gunshot used to execute people.

What with all the crazy animations in the rest of the set, it reminds me of Trinity's "Dodge this" in the first Matrix movie.