Get Lucky: Part Snake Eyes

The Odds Stat

As much as I disdain straying in the slightest from the world of videogames, Marvel Comics has always been very good to us gamers, so I think this one trespass can be forgiven. Marvel introduced Longshot in 1985 in a six part limited series. He was a four-fingered alien with hollow bones and the reality altering powers that resulted in him having unnaturally good luck. (And as we've seen from the Scarlet Witch, the ability to defy probability is quite the volatile gift.)

He even appeared as a selectable character in the obscure 1990 DOS RPG X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants. He also lent his name to a piece of equipment in X-Men Legends II, a nifty item called The Luck of the Longshot. He is oft overshadowed in the videogame arena by his nemesis Spiral due to her appearance in Capcom fighters, most notably in the lead off slot of Duc Do's highly successful MvC2 team of Spiral/Cable/Sentinel.

But enough periphery. An intriguing ability, to have perpetually good luck. Though the Slots of which I spoke in Part I may be mastered through the exercise of hand-eye coordination there is still an element of chance within the spinning reels. Quantifying someone's luck, though, seems like a ridiculous task. That is to say, unless you are a game developer.

Take the cult classic post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout. Luck is one of the primary stats present in the game's robust character creation mode. The shelling out one's bonus points towards Luck provides a higher critical chance, improvement of some skills, and has some effect on the story.

It can be particularly effective to allocate enough points to bring Luck to 9 or 10, and then pick the Jinxed trait, which would normally cause you and everyone around you to have more critical failures, i.e. misfires and whiffs. With a prodigious luck sum, however, you will be invulnerable to this effect, and only your opponents (and allies) will be subject to this misfortune. There is also the Alien Blaster weapon, that can only be acquired through a rare random encounter in the desert that is stumbled upon exclusively by the highly lucky vault-dwellers.

Take another classic, the PS1 smash Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Alucard's Luck will determine the frequency of dropped items from fallen foes, the chances of a critical hit, and also the likelihood of the Talisman item's effect kicking in and absorbing damage in your stead. MagusB has written an intriguing Luck Mode FAQ, which covers a Luck Mode run through. It is a sort of New Game+ challenge starting with ridiculously weak statistics and 99 Luck, which apparently completely changes the feel of the game. It is suggested that one is wise to abandon the use of magic and subweapons. Also, the aforementioned Talismans that are next to useless on a regular playthrough due to the rarity of their activation are the saving grace of the highly luckly vampire hunters.

And Square Enix, wow. Not only do they have a passionate love affair with slots (e.g. VI's Setzer or VIII's Selphie), they too embrace the luck statistic, off and on. In the luck-oriented X-2 of which I have already made mention, it is used as a roll, if you will, against status ailments sticking. In the toughest neighborhood in Spira, the notorious Via Infinito dungeon, the villainous Chac fiend will make short work of your descent by petrifying YuRiPa in the Glare of an eye. It is highly recommended that one uses the Ray of Hope Garment Grid's Luck-boosting effect in conjunction with the Lady Luck jobsphere's naturally good fortune to avoid the stony fate of many a reckless Gullwing. Preparation, you see, that's what I call making your own luck.

All in all, chance is a bit of a paradox in videogames. Timeseeding functions replace real randomness, and good fortune translates into finding nice loot. I suppose it's better than how luck works in real life, though. What with bad luck and all.