Edward Love

[Burgermiester85]

I just played through IV (for psp) using just Edward (for the VERY brief window he is available plus endgame). For the first part it actually gave me perspective as to what they were thinking when they designed the mechanics of the character. As soon as you get the Lamia harp he becomes amazing. Everything gets confused except Mom Bomb and Antlion, and even they weren't hard because the damage he received in the back row was easy enough to deal with using potions. In a regular game you never really appreciate him because you're brute forcing everything with Cecil and then Cecil AND Yang so he just seems like pointless chip damage, but if you let him do his thing hes a very satisfying party member.

[Ayen]

Basically, if you use actual strategy he becomes useful. I think a lot of characters suffer from hate because the players just don't know how to utilize them properly. I never had a problem with him, myself.

[Burgermiester85]

I think people also hate characters who are "whiny" on principle, regardless of their reason. When we first see him Edward has just seen his kingdom explode and his new wife die and people hate him for not being chill about that.

[Ayen]

Something else I'll never understand. Legitimate reasons for being sad about something? YOU'RE AN EMO SHUT YOUR FACE!

[Wolf Kanno]

To be fair to the people complaining about him whining, the party did have other things to accomplish. I mean Cecil was there to save Rosa (which was the only reason Edward agreed to join) and the party was mostly trying to stop Golbez from doing what he did to Damacyan to the rest of the world, so I can see why the party itself basically slapped him and told him to "suit up" instead of letting him have his moment to grieve.

With that said, I never had issues with Edward as I noticed the whole Lamia Harp element and once you give him some levels under his belt, he can hold his own.

[Fynn]

I love Edward and I love how badass he becomes in the After Years. He is easily the best character there.

[Ayen]

To be fair to the people complaining about him whining, the party did have other things to accomplish. I mean Cecil was there to save Rosa (which was the only reason Edward agreed to join) and the party was mostly trying to stop Golbez from doing what he did to Damacyan to the rest of the world, so I can see why the party itself basically slapped him and told him to "suit up" instead of letting him have his moment to grieve.

The party yes, but those reasons from my experience are never cited by the haters. As far as I can tell they hate him for the same reason they hate a character like Terra or Tidus. Because they have actual issues to overcome and because they don't act like sly, cool badasses, they suck.

[Fynn]

I've never encountered any Terra hate.

[Burgermiester85]

I understand why the party treats him like they do, the clock is kind of always ticking for Rosa and the crystals. Edward gets it too after he joins and the only other time he stops to grieve is when everyone is asleep so as to not halt the pace of the journey. I always thought that was very decent of him.

[Burgermiester85]

The most hate i see for a character for being whiny is Hope and all i can say about that is if i saw my mom die and then an hour later got a terminal diagnosis i would be a blubbering mess, even more so at age 14.

[Ayen]

The most hate i see for a character for being whiny is Hope and all i can say about that is if i saw my mom die and then an hour later got a terminal diagnosis i would be a blubbering mess, even more so at age 14.

I took a similar stance, but a friend informed me his mannerisms (for lack of a better word) had nothing to do with his mother passing. This is the first time I heard of the terminal diagnosis. Only made it past the first boss fight because the game was that boring.

[Burgermiester85]

It's about 50/50 his mom and his imminent doom. His reaction to his mother manifests as a hatred for Snow but its pretty clear that its how hes coping with his mom. And you might want to give the game another chance someday, once you get the paradigms (after the Anima fight) the game gets a lot of depth if youre willing to explore it!

[Ayen]

Wait, this is about Final Fantasy IV.

Edward is a Spoony Bard!

[Burgermiester85]

Haha oh yeah! And I know everyone knows this but hes just got obscene damage output when he joins endgame on the gba and psp versions. Soloing him then is just funny; everything crumbles at a stroke of his harp!

[Mirage]

Edward "can" be useful, sure. He can debuff some things, which is useful against the enemies that aren't important. If dark knight Cecil could only damage random encounters and not bosses, would you consider him a useful party member?