How I think Cyan's SwordTech should have worked

[BackBlade99]

Yes, this is just a woulda-shoulda-coulda thing but I think it's kind of fun to think about.

I think he should have gained new SwordTechs at certain levels as usual, but that when he could use them during battle depended on what % of life he was missing (and therefore what % he had left). This would have made him and his ability substantially more dynamic as opposed to being the antithesis of dynamic like it is now, forcing the player to basically do nothing while it charges... granted you can do some tricks just beforehand to buy a little time for a higher charge, but still.

So, example: His 1st one would be usable at 80% life left, and each successive one would require that he have 10% less life. Conveniently this puts the 8th one (same number of Techs that he has now) at 10% life left. Having such a requirement would justify making it quite powerful. Also, all previous ones would stay available, as opposed to how it is now where you can only select the one that the gauge is at.

IMO this would also add a lot of drama to pulling off the ones with steeper requirements, which I think would be another benefit. It would make Cyan a more desirable character to use, as opposed to a character that is so safe and "guaranteed" that he / she becomes kind of boring.

Lastly I think it fits the general flavor of the character... he lost his family and he's kind of like the tortured soul type in this game... so I think tying his ability into "pain" and making it so he can lash back out with it makes sense.

[ljkkjlcm9]

That would have made his special skill useless. He'd never be able to use it at full health, so having something like regen on him would be bad. He'd essentially only be useful for a regular attack, which half the characters are already only good for anyways. Cyan and Sabin are two characters that have special moves which are stronger than their main attack for most of the game. They're legit useful attacks, that make them two of your strongest characters early on. I feel the Swd Tech was fine as it was. You have to wait for the other characters to use their moves and then recharge their ATB anyways, so I always had him go last and just charged it as they were attacking/charging. Until late in the game where he could cast quick and use it freely.

Towards the end of the game, every character becomes dull anyways. There becomes very little strategy left, especially if you power level, as everything does max damage.

THE JACKEL

[blackmage_nuke]

Maybe It wouldve been better if low health just made the gauge charge faster.

But frankly there are already enough over powered moves in FFVI, It wouldve been better if Blitz used mp and Tools needed ammo/batteries/fuel

[BackBlade99]

That would have made his special skill useless. He'd never be able to use it at full health, so having something like regen on him would be bad.

Who uses regen? It's weak even if you build around it and hardly anything even gives it in the first place.

"He'd never be able to use it at full health"

That's kind of the point. How often are your characters at full health? Do you multi-cast a cure spell every single time it comes around to a caster? I don't. Like most people I know the game very well -- I don't heal when it's unnecessary, and it's unnecessary 99.99% of the time that you have the opportunity to do so. If the characters had roughly 100 health max around the time you get Cyan, and the monsters' damage was scaled down appropriately, and he had 80/100, which would allow him to use his first Tech based on my mechanic, would he need to be healed? Nope.

I personally never had a problem with Cyan, nor much of a problem with his ability (despite my intentionally to-the-point thread title). Indeed what made me wonder about this in the first place is that he's one of the most under-appreciated (and IMO coolest) characters in the game... presumably because of his perceived under-powered-ness.

Maybe It wouldve been better if low health just made the gauge charge faster.

But frankly there are already enough over powered moves in FFVI, It wouldve been better if Blitz used mp and Tools needed ammo/batteries/fuel

Those are interesting ideas, but ya, I agree that there's too much overpowered stuff in this game. I definitely would've prefered it if it were A LOT harder. There's a substantial amount of stuff they could change to make the game better that I think should at least be optional. At any rate it's still the best FF IMO and in the top 100 of all-time.

[blackmage_nuke]

That's kind of the point. How often are your characters at full health? Do you multi-cast a cure spell every single time it comes around to a caster? I don't. Like most people I know the game very well -- I don't heal when it's unnecessary, and it's unnecessary 99.99% of the time that you have the opportunity to do so. If the characters had roughly 100 health max around the time you get Cyan, and the monsters' damage was scaled down appropriately, and he had 80/100, which would allow him to use his first Tech based on my mechanic, would he need to be healed? Nope.

Well it would make him useless during boss battles where it counts. I for one keep my characters at full hp during boss battles where they can wipe your hp down a fair bit and I think throughout the majority of the game I never go below 50% health

[BackBlade99]

Well it would make him useless during boss battles where it counts. I for one keep my characters at full hp during boss battles where they can wipe your hp down a fair bit and I think throughout the majority of the game I never go below 50% health

Ya, I would agree with that. In hindsight my idea's pretty bad, though I think it could be interesting on occasion. Meh.

[ljkkjlcm9]

Miracle shoes are a pretty awesome accessory with Haste/Regen/Protect/Shell. A character with max HP and high stamina greatly benefits from the regen as well. It's honestly one of the best accessories in the game.

THE JACKEL

[BackBlade99]

I agree that Marvel Shoes are one of the best relics in the game, but they wouldn't be worth using a relic slot for if all they did was Regen (Cure Ring). Just as it's generally not worth using a turn to cast Regen or the sole Esper slot you're given per character, for Kirin (looks cool at least, like everything else in this game *teehee*).