Who is Best! Warning Spoilers in this thread

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Originally called in North America Final Fantasy III and then latter changed to Final Fantasy VI was a dear and close game for me. Before we had game walkthroughs, or any internet help the few of us fans would slowly unlock the secrets of this gem bye chatting on the school bus each day about it. In the course of my life I have played through this Final Fantasy about 50 times now, and decided to share with you guys my top picks for playable characters to maybe help new players make teams. Also I am open to discussion if you disagree. Maybe I missed something others have found. I'll start with the two guests first.

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Meet General Leo. He is a General in the Empires employ and is argued to be a love interest of Terra's. I put him down as the worst guest which I know I will get slack for due to his ever popularity. I Do like him better than Banon as well, but there is a reason I don't think he is really that great.
When you check his stats in the few minutes you can control him he is rather average. What makes him look so spectacular is the equipment he has on which is end game/uncursed Mega Equipment. His special is Shock which does decent damage at the time but would be out shined by others such as Blitz. However He is showed as the face of purity in the Evil that is the Empire.

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The top Guest you get to use is Banon. Let me start bye saying I loathe this man... No I hate this man. Will sell you out in a second if it means it would further himself as is showed when you chat with him in Vector. However though he is average in all aspects, and a weak fighter his specialty is called health. What makes him great when you use him is the free healing all the way down the Lete river and into Narshe. As Edgar, Terra, and Sabin all mop up whats in front of them Banon keeps your HP at the top without using any items or Terra's magic.

Those are the guest, Now lets move on to the main cast. I will be doing a countdown from worst to best and like I said before feel free to correct me if you feel I misplaced someone in the countdown.

#14 Cyan
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We meet Cyan at the Empires military base just outside of his home in Doma. Cyan is to Doma what Leo is to the Empire. When Kefka poisons the people Cyan in a rage goes to the empires military base and starts to fight anyone who will come close to him. Sabin (and possiblally Shadow) see him fighting a losing battle and jump in to help him. He then accompanies Sabin on his way back to Narshe through the Velt and joins the resistance.

Cyan get last place due to his speed. He is a great fighter, but others can mach him and dispatch a screen of baddies before he even get his sword out. His special is SwdTec which if you are unimpressed with his speed, get ready to wait even longer to do this. At top levels it takes about 10 to 15 seconds to pull off anything decent, and haste seems to not help this. His magic is low tier when he learns it. Its not that he is bad, its just that anything he can do, others can do quicker. After I get him he usually just keeps the seat warm on board the BlackJack and then the Falcon.

#13 Shadow
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We first meet Shadow in South Figaro in the Pu... Cafe. He tells us to leave him alone at that time. Now I will say I love Shadow. His theme music every time he shows up as a hire in the World of Balance is jut great. In the Original translation (Don't know about latter ones) He is said to slit his moma's throat for a nickle. Also he has Interceptor with him. He is also rumored to be Relm's father and many hints throughout the game suggest that.

As a party member He is great at first but expensive. The first half of the game his Skeens can do Fire, Ice, and Lightning damage as well as make him invisible, or hard to hit like a shadow. His special is throw that lets him throw a variety of Ninja stars, or your old weapons collecting dust in your inventory. Plus he has his faithful dog Interceptor chiming in with extra damage. However the down side to him is bye the time you can afford his throw ability it is almost bottom tier from what others are doing. However I still have him tag along where ever I go due to him just being awesome.

#12 Locke
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We first meet Locke the "Treasure Hunter" When Terra tries to escape through the mines of Narshe. Locke is sent to find her and take her to safety at Figaro Castle. He is the love interest in the game for Celes who we will talk about later.

If you are looking for a fourth in a group you can't go wrong with Locke. His thief ability will keep you well supplied with tonics and eye drops. He also has the ability to snag some great equipment earlier than what one would be able to, however that stuff is usually few and far between. He holds his own with a blade, but he is average with it until very late game keeping him down the rankings.

#11 Umaro
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We meet Umaro in the Narshe caves in the World of Ruin with Mog. After a brief scrimmage Mog gets him to join up.

He has his spots on the team, however he can't be controlled which leaves you with some unpredictability. He is all offence and with the Rage Ring on he gives some nice results. He finds his way down the list due to having no control over him, and him having no ability to learn magic. However Square attempted to fix the no magic learning with the Blizzard Orb, but... ya I wouldn't suggest putting it on him. That being said he is someone who I take with me all the time as I just love using him. However he is probably best used bye experienced players.

#10 Setzer
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Setzer also know as the Wondering Gambler is the owner of the worlds only Air Ship The BlackJack. We first meet Setzer at the Opera when he kidnaps Celes thinking that she is the famous Opera singer Maria who he intends to make his Wife. After finding out Celes isn't Maria he joins agrees to help with a flip of a coin.

Setzer is someone who can be really good, or really awful. Using him is a gamble. His special is Slots which when used can end the fight... or bust, and everything in between. I put him at #10 even though he is one of my main go to guys versus Kefka due to the fact until you raid the final dungeon of the game for his fixed-dice attack he really isn't that great.

#9 Strago
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Strago is the first mage to make the list, and plays the role of the teams Blue Mage. We meet him in Thamasa when Locke and Terra travel there with the Empire to try and reason with the Espers who bolted from the Sealed gate and trashed Vector. He is a descendant of the mage warriors from the War of the Magi 1000 years prior to this story.

Strago is one of those guys that if you want him to be good, its going to take a lot of time. His special is Lore. Lore allows him to use monster attacks which he has witnessed once before and is the teams only Blue mage (Unless you make Gogo into one). As a magic user however his magic is second tier compared to that of Terra, Relm, and Celes which is why he falls in at #9.

#8 Edgar
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Edgar is the King of Figaro. Under his ruler ship Figaro leads the way in technology and though it is small it is respected. We first meet this flirt when Locke brings Terra to him to hide her from both Narshe, and the Empire. Though Figaro is allied with the Empire Edgar hates them and is secretly a member of the resistance. He won the throne from his twin brother Sabin with a toss of a coin.

I wont lie, Edgar carries your team through the first half of the game due to the fact he has the tools command available to him. The problem with the Tools command is it starts to drop off in the second half making you rely on him being a dragoon. The problem is Mog is Just as good as he is at that, plus can equip the Moogle Charm that lets you rob dungeons blind with little consequence. That is why Edgar goes to #8.

#7 Mog
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Mog is a slam dancing trash talking Moogle! We first meet Mog when Locke is saving Terra from the Narshe guards. He and the other Moogles jump to his aid allowing them to Escape to Figaro. Later in the World of Balance you get a chance to pay back the complement when Lone Wolf the Pick pocket steals a gold hairpin and you go chasing him through the mines for it ending in him taking Mog captive. When Mog fights back they are both hanging off a cliff, if you save Mog he joins up. If you go after the Gold Hairpin you are just an evil person who may as well join the Empire.

Mog is a memeber of the Dragoon class. You need to give him special relics for his leaping ability, but that's how he is best used. His Special is Dance. When you select this Mog starts to Dance that allows for different results. The best use of Mog however like I mentioned in Edgar's write up is the use of the Relic known as the Moogle Charm. This allows you to go anyplace you like without having to battle those pesky monsters that pop up ever few steps allowing you to go raiding many dungeons for some great equipment in the World Of Ruin.

#6 Gogo
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Not much is known of Gogo however a quick internet search will bring up all kinds of crazy theories. My favorite one is He/She is from another world sent to help you save this one from Kefka.

Gogo is a mime who will Mimic whatever move was used last. You can also customize Gogo with anyone else's Special move such as Sabin's Blitz or Strago's Lore. Though Gogo can't learn magic of his own if you put it on his menu he will be able to cast the spells of the others who he is with. I know he sounds awesome but isn't the very top guy due to Anything you can do he can do too, just not as good. He is rather average in all stats but his power lies in his ability to do well... Everything.

#5 Celes
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Celes is a former General in the Empires Army who decides to join the resistance. As a child Kefka and her was artificially infused with magic and trained as a Magitec Knights. We meet Celes after she takes South Figaro for the Empire and Locke Sneaks in and saves her from execution. A romance between the two is implied and plays a big role in the second half of the game.

Between Celes and Terra they are basically carbon copies of each other except Celes takes on the ice magic naturally, Where Terra takes on the fire role. Her special in battle is Runic, and when selected can absorb enemy spells and replenish her MP. A powerful warrior who can be used in any situation she breaks in at #5

#5 Terra
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We first meet Terra at the very beginning of the game. She is a soldier of the Empire... kinda, as Kefka has her under control with a slave crown. It starts with Terra walking into Narshe to capture the Esper found there frozen in the mines. She is accompanied bye Final Fantasy Favorites Biggs and Wedge. Later we find out she is a product of human and Esper relations, and was kidnapped bye the Emperor as a young child.

Like I said with Celes. You can swap these two out. Either can go to #4 and #5 as they are basically carbon copies of each other. her special is Morph, which allows her to take her Esper form in battle giving her some power boost that sends enemies home crying.

#3 Relm
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Relm is Strago's Grand daughter and it is hinted at heavily Shadow's daughter. We meet Relm with her Grandfather in Thamasa when Terra and Locke go to talk to the Espers with the Empire. She joins up with Strago after Terra and Locke help Strago save her from a burning house.

I love using Relm! Early on she isn't that great, you will rely heavily on her Magic which she is one of the best in the game at casting it. Her special is sketch, which really isn't very special at all. In the World of Ruin she really comes into her own though. Find for her the Fake Mustache and she starts taking control of the battle field. want an easy way to try and steal those so special eccodomizers from the Branchasours of doom? Easy take this gem with you and he wont touch you! Battlefield control and power magic puts her at #3

#2 Sabin
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Sabin is the Prince of Figaro and Edgar's twin Brother. He gave up his rights to the throne (willingly I might add) after losing a coin toss to Edgar. It is also rumored that Square initially wrote him as the games homo-sexual character. There is lots of evidence in the game to support this theory as well. We first meet Sabin on Mount Koltz on the way to the resistance hideout. He saves Edgar Terra and Locke from Vargas and joins up.

Sabin is a great choice throughout the whole game. He can be part of any party and be extremely useful. His special ability is Blitz which takes on kinda a Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter II feel to it while you use them and they scale nicely almost until the end.

#1 Gau
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Gau's mother died during child birth and his father went Nuts. As a result Gau was tossed onto the Velt bye his father and left to fend for himself. We meet Gau When Sabin and Cyan are headed to Narshe and must go through the serpent trench to get there. Gau joins the team when you throw him some dried meat after a battle on the Velt.

Gau is POWERFUL! My last playthrough when battling Kefka I thought Kefka was going to drop everything and give him a hug. Gau though is a more time you spend the better he will become though. Some players toss him aside due to the time it takes to power him up and the fact that you do lose control of him in battle. Gau uses the Rage command in battle and the Leap command on the Velt. Leap will let Gau learn the ability of the monsters Leaped on and it will become one of his rages. With over 240 rages to experiment with and choose from (about 230 being utter trash) It can overwhelm beginners to the franchise. However When you take the time to know what rage to use when and the time to learn the rages he is a unstoppable beast who sends big baddies crying in fear of him! If anyone needs hints with him like getting him to charm the End Boss I'd be more than happy to help them.

Pretty nifty list; I'm surprised to see Realm so far up, I didn't know people actually used her. :p

My opinion on the matter, assuming people aren't grinding espers:

1) Gau:
The Nightshade rage alone is gamebreakingly powerful, but Rage is extremely strong outside of it and he can use the Snow Muffler on top of that. It's pretty hard to argue against him being the best character in the game.

2) Gogo
This comes down to the Rage command as well, but Gogo also has the most versatility in the game, which is a major plus, though he also has one of the worst natural equipment pools to use with it, which . . . isn't so much of a plus.

3) Terra
Terra and Celes share an equipment pool, and it is the best general equipment draw in the game, with excellent offensive (Illumina) and defensive (Minerva) options to take advantage of. Terra has access to Morph for when you need that extra damage however, which pushes her ahead for me.

4) Celes
Same pros as Terra, only Runic is more selectively useful than Morph is, albeit far more spamable.

5) Sabin
Behind Rage, this is probably the most powerful command, offering excellent damage and healing with no MP cost.

6) Edgar
Tools is another extremely powerful command, but it is more limited than Blitz, particularly when it comes to single target damage. Flash remains a powerful enough AoE through most of the second world, especially when paired with double earrings, but Drill ends up being a far weaker single target attack than Bum Rush does.

7) Strago
Lore has excellent offerings in it, particularly Big Guard, White Wind, and Grand Train or Quazar. Unfortunately, all cost mana and have to be learned, and Ultima exists, which drops him below the above characters in power.

8) Shadow
Shadow is a bizarre mixed bag of a character -- his equipment pool isn't stellar, but he is naturally evasive and his knives can inflict stop or death, and he can steal. Throw is quite powerful, but it requires items TO throw. Interceptor does a lot of damage to most enemies, but triggers randomly.

9) Mog
Mog can use the Snow Muffler and that alone makes him a solid character. I don't like using him as a dragoon for this reason though, instead preferring to let him soak hits for the team on the ground. Dance is a great command, especially the wind dance with its good mix of damage and healing, but skill use is random during Dance and it command locks him, which isn't a good thing.

10) Locke
Locke's damage potential is quite high with the Genji Glove / Offering combo and defense ignoring properties of the Ultima Weapon and Valiant Knife, and steal can net you a bonus Kazekiri in Vector in the WoB. Sadly, unless you REALLY want to steal something, Shadow does thief duty just as well.

11) Setzer
Gill Toss hurts, but takes a Relic slot and uses money; Slots isn't bad, but isn't reliable. Fixed Dice and status inflicting darts/cards are pretty much his only redeeming feature.

12) Cyan
Cyan's sword techs take too long to charge for what they offer, barring Retort when you know something will hit him, and it tends to hold him back quite a lot when he is stacked against other unique commands in the game. However, he does have access to the Genji Glove + Hero Ring and dual Kazekiri combo, which does surprising AoE damage for a while and makes him hilariously powerful when Genji Offering'd with an esper pumped magic attack.

13) Realm
I may need to reassess this character; I haven't had the best luck with Control in the past and will have to try it with the Hypno Crown the next time I play through the game. From current experience, however, Realm has no especially great unique options to her equipment wise, and Sketch is the worst unique ability. I generally imp her, loader her with imp gear and the Dragoon Boots + Horn combo, and let her jump on things.

14) Umaro
I've noticed a lot of love for Umaro on the forums, but I still think he's the worst character in the game. He is both command and equipment locked and is the only character in the party without access to magic or items, which is unfortunate considering how powerful magic is in this game, and that, even imped, Realm can use items if needed.

Umaro with his rage ring and a black belt is deadly in a tank role teamed up with Mog's dances. Try that combo next time. Also ya Gau with a offering and the merit award equipped with the Temptest is even more broken. Have him rage (forget his cat rage with cat scratch) with quicken spell used on him. A group of 6 enemies can get hit a total of 96 times at a X3 rate from cat scratch plus the Temptest casts wind slash on all randomly. It's the wind God Gau set up.

Relm's Magic is where she shines early. Control really comes in handy for a lot of things. Honestly sketch is awful but control is very breaking with giant baddies. She also has the potential to hit the spell attack limit without the Espers boosts the earliest.

Wind God Gau and Gogo setups were so good they are blocked from using the Merit Award in later versions of the game. I always thought that was hilarious. :p

I wonder if the charm status was ever rebalanced. :/

I don't know. I prefer the original translation version due to Cyan keeping Porno magazines as well as other things so I aways play the SNES version.

I like the SNES original more due to it being the version I am the most familiar with, and my annoyance at unlimited Ragnaroks and Ultima Weapons in the GBA port, but I've played through the GBA version a few times to try out the new content. The new boss fights in the Dragon's Den are quite agreeable, I have to say, but the dungeon itself is such a headache. > .<

Ya I agree. Went through the WOB in the GBA port and hated it. Just wasn't the same game I played I thought.

Now I've completed this game on my second playthrough, here's my order (from worst to best)

14. Cyan (thou art boring)
13. Edgar (becomes boring)
12. Celes (I hate Runic)
11. Strago (I'm not a blue mage fan)
10. Setzer (Gil Toss and Fixed Dice)
9. Locke (gets better later on)
8. Mog (The Moogle Charm)
7. Gau (Stray Cat, that's it)
6. Gogo (mimics Throw well!)
5. Umaro (tricky but brilliant)
4. Sabin (the steadfast attacker)
3. Shadow (he Throws well)
2. Terra (The Magical Beauty)
1. Relm (The Ultima Queen)