Crappy Character Parties.

[NeoCracker]

Alright, this tread started as an Idea for a BoF II playthrough, using the crappiest Characters I could get a hold of, but I probably won't do it for a while, so instead, what are some of RPG's worst Character Parties?

For BoF II, I think it's very obvious, for the most part, the worst characters party creatable.

Obviously you have to have Ryu, not being able to take him out of the party and all. The next two are also painfully obvious.

Jean takes bottom barrel. A random assortment of weak spells, subpar HP and a crappy attack. His only redeaming quality is a High defense, but it really doens't amount to much, especcially with defensively superior CHaracters like Rand, who bulster high Defense and HP.

Then of course is Spar. Even with his Tranformations, he suffers the same problem as Jean, a random list of mostly weak spells, though he has the saving Grace of a few useful ones. I believe he gets Defense up X, which is actually quite Awesome. H has more HP then Nina, but without the useful spells it goes to waste. And worse is Spar is a horrible physical fighter, leaving him no real niche to fill, and not doing so well as an balanced character.

Obviosly if I do this, Rand and Bow are out. Rand has some of the best stats in the game, and both have some nice healing abilities. Rand can bust out some alright offense magic with 8.0, and Bo can come in with the mighty Defense Up X. Both offer pretty solid Physical attacks, and Rand sports the games Highest HP and Defense.

And as for Blue? No. Just no. She is WAY to powerful to slow down any Party, regardless of the situation. She's a caster with better natural stats in all catagories then Rand.

Now, for worst Party, it boils down to three people, who otherwise are awesome. Nina, Katt, and Sten.

Now, Nina is a very good character, with high magic power and AP, backed up by an assortment of elemental spells, she kicks ass. However, in this particular party, there is next to no healing, and her low HP will definately get in the way. There isn't really much of a survival factor for her outside of Items. Though I don't think she would make the party worse, given the wide Variety of attacks she possesses. Even though she can't take a hit, she'd be a high damage dealer, outclassed only by Ryu's Dragons.

Sten is another good contender for worst party, considering the rest of the group. He is, overall a decent character, except for the fact he can't take a hit. Hes a great addition to a group normally, being fairly well rounded, getting both Non-elemental and Fire based skills. However, he doesn't excell at much, so he can't fill his usual role in rounding out the party. All his attacks hit for decent amounts, but with a low HP and defense, Katt being the only non-caster type with lower, he might have a hard time doing a whole lot of good. Even if he learns either Renew or Cure 2 from Ray at Captain, he lacks the MP usage to make much use of it, and if he does try he loses out on what magical offensive he can dish out.

Katt is probably the best choice here. Her normal attack hits hard, however she has abysmal HP and Defense, especially considering she's a fighter type, only able to use magic if you either boost her AP with Yozo, or obtain her Devil Shaman Tranform. Either way, her magic doesn't hit as hard as say, Nina or Stens, and she only gets one, maybe two uses of it. Possibly 3 with both Yozo and the Devil Transform, not to sure. And again, with lack of curing power past Cure 2, Katt's HP and Defense are a massive Liability.

Its basically a call between Katt and Sten to forge the worst party, even if they are very good characters in any other scenario.


On another note, I'd consider banning the use of Barose to teach spells, and giving Spar access to Missle would kill off most of his useless ness, as he instantly becomes a good damage dealer. Possilby ban Roasts as well, except for purposes of selling.

And only Extracts found in chests. That way I couldn't just overcome my lack of healing via SUper powerful healing Items.

[McLovin']

Any of the useless characters from Chrono Cross or Suikoden.

[Wolf Kanno]

You forget that Katt has insanely high agility which sorta balances out her crappy defense and HP. I'd go with Sten cause much like Jean and Spar, he's useless without the Shaman system. If Bow didn't have healing, I would use him also but I never liked the guy.

I'll think up some group eventually...

[Raistlin]

FF1: Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt.

It had to be said.

Any of the useless characters from Chrono Cross or Suikoden.

The Suikoden games are too easy considering there's so many characters, many of them just awful and so nobody ever even uses them.

[Crimson]

FFV: Bard, Bard, Bard, Bard.



Spoony Bards.

=|

[Vermachtnis]

Class of Heroes: Team of Sprite Evokers. They're adorable and incredible speed, but they have terrible HP growth. And Evokers are the jacks of all trades, masters of none class.

[Dante WolfWood]

In Tales of Vesperia when (SPOILER)when Estelle is taken by alexei and you are trying to rescue her. with no main healer, it really freaking sucked. some of the characters had small healing spells here and there, but they were controlled by stupid AI and they had to be either very close to you or they only healed for a small amount and called for a larger amount of tp.

and items in that game sucked :/

[Laddy]

Ranger, Ranger, Ranger, Thief, Fighter, and Mage/Thief.

I was stuck in Baldur's Gate with this party. SO BAD.

[NeoCracker]

You forget that Katt has insanely high agility which sorta balances out her crappy defense and HP. I'd go with Sten cause much like Jean and Spar, he's useless without the Shaman system. If Bow didn't have healing, I would use him also but I never liked the guy.

I'll think up some group eventually...

The Agility is quite insane yes, but in the end it doesn't count for as much In games like this, given the one attack per turn limit. (Which, on an unrelated note, I"m happy was fixed in BoF III with the EX turn.)

Sten is also quite useful under normal conditions. He's fast enough to go before most enemies in the game, not many being able to surpass him. Katts agility is higher yes, but the Agility increase over Stens. Stens HP and Defense are also superior, while he totes the FIreball and Missile SPells. Even without the AP boost from Yozo, he is able to use his spells more often then Katt and deal more damage with them.

There is also his RIP ability, which lets him partially bypass his own weak defensed by not preventing most physical attacks from being able to target him, meaning his low HP won't be as much of a bother as Katt's.

Sten is actually quite a useful Character even without the Shaman System because these things.

[Wolf Kanno]

The problem with Sten is that at best, he's adequate. His physical attack is nowhere near as good as Katt, Ryu, Rand and even Bow. His magic is also not nearly as good without the Shaman system. You are just better off with using Nina and Dias for good magic damage. His other stats are also only adequate as best.

Katt is pretty much a high risk/high reward type character and I feel there are enough equipment opportunities (as well as just some normal levels) that make Katt's handicapps not nearly as bad. Her high agility stat makes sure she dodges lots of hits and with proper equipment, she can easily take a few blows before going down. With her high attack stat, she can feel enemies faster and reduce the risk of taking damage.

I just feel her advantages outweigh her disadvantages and she's not anywhere close to being considered part of a bad party set-up.

[NeoCracker]

The problem with Sten is that at best, he's adequate. His physical attack is nowhere near as good as Katt, Ryu, Rand and even Bow. His magic is also not nearly as good without the Shaman system. You are just better off with using Nina and Dias for good magic damage. His other stats are also only adequate as best.

Katt is pretty much a high risk/high reward type character and I feel there are enough equipment opportunities (as well as just some normal levels) that make Katt's handicapps not nearly as bad. Her high agility stat makes sure she dodges lots of hits and with proper equipment, she can easily take a few blows before going down. With her high attack stat, she can feel enemies faster and reduce the risk of taking damage.

I just feel her advantages outweigh her disadvantages and she's not anywhere close to being considered part of a bad party set-up.

Typical, as I stated, she's a great character. It's just under the circumtances, I'd be with a party that can only deal decent physical damage on a regular basis. And while high Agility is nice for dodging, she can't doge magic, and dodging physical isn't garunteed.

Where as when Sten enters RIP, the only things hitting him are the all-hitting attacks that cant' really be dodged anyway, so on the note of not getting hit and survivablity, Sten is superior.

Katt can regularly deal out more Damage then Sten, yes. But Sten gets both Fireball and Missle before even Nina, and can deal some decent Damage with them. Not as much as Nina, but he can still clear out large numbers of weaklings, which is at heart, the point of such Magic. It is kind of pointless against later bosses though.

A lot of bosses also have attacks that hit your entire party, that Katt's Agility doesn't really mean much too, and bosses hit a lot harder then your normal enemies, so they can strike her down fast. Sten can last a bit longer though, due to superior HP and Defense.

As far as bosses go, theres a few I'd rather have Sten in then Katt for his Magic damage, simply because Physical attacks are pointless in some of them.

Most, I would usually rather have Katt, but again with this party as it becomes more difficult to keep her alive, where as Sten at least has RIP to ensure constant and safely dealt damage through most every encounter in the game, something I cannot say for Katt.

The High Damage/High Risk gets even Riskier when the rest of your party sucks balls.

I mean main stratagy to stay alive is getting JEAN so I can set up the Defense Pattern somewhat effectively.

Just think about that. Character survival is going to rely on that smurfing frog. He is in every way inferior to my usual shield, Rand.

Mind you, everything I've stated has not even taken the Shaman's into consideration.

To consider it, take the Shaman that boost Defense. The boosts are percent based. So to use one on Katt wont' do much good, as her increases will be minimal due to already low defense. On Sten, the defense boost would be more significant.

If you take the offense boost from the Fire Shaman, Katt gets a very notable increase, but the moment she's knocked into critical, or likely knocked out, she loses it. And again, under party circumstances, this is likely to happen.

Sten, however, can make more use out of the Fire Shaman due to his ability to stay alive easier then Katt, so he'll get more use out of it. Though his Defensive boosts using the Water Shaman will be fairly low as well. However they are still higher, so again Sten can make better use of Shamans then Katt, up until you get the Devil Shaman at least.

Though really, the special transforms don't help much, as your not likely to have them the fight with the Barubary before Deathevan, and you lose them right at the final battle regardless if I remember right, so Katts Transform doesn't do much good regardless, except for helping survive a chunk of the last Dungeon.

Now, had I had say, Bow or Rand, to more readily keep Katt alive, all while having Bow Double as a buffer and decent Damager, or Rand as a high class meat shield and good damage dealer, Katt becomes that much more scary. But in a situation where you have Spar, who will probably die off just as fast, if not faster then Katt, and Jean being my lead defender? Katts risk factor begins to rise.

And finally, after the big tranforms, don't forget Sweh from Sten. If I end up in a fight thats unfavorable to my group, I can simply change it. He not only helps his own survivability, but the entire parties. Sten actually has the inate ability to remove non-boss related risks in an instant, and this comes just after getting the Wind Shaman.

Basically, in a group that requires you to basically prevent as much damage to your fourth member as possible, and you are dealing with people as physically weak as Sten and Katt as that fourth member, you have to have a solid way to keep them alive. Katt just can't offer that, where Sten can.

[KentaRawr!]

Final Fantasy XI: WHM, WHM, WHM, WHM, WHM, WHM.

[demondude]

Ranger, Ranger, Ranger, Thief, Fighter, and Mage/Thief.

I was stuck in Baldur's Gate with this party. SO BAD.

Agreed. Also, having a party made up of characters who decide to argue and kill each other when you're halfway through an important area.

[theundeadhero]

FF1: Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt, Black Belt.

It had to be said.

This was actually very easy. Feel free to read the thread I made about it if you want to look about a year and a half into the FF1 forum.

[qwertysaur]

FF IX
Take Vivi, Dagger, and Eiko with you to Oeilvert.