Originally Posted by
Chen Goujun's "Perfect" FF5 Game Guide
Q: I intend to get a Maximum Game with a Max Brave Blade. What do you think?
A: Taking the Brave Blade is impractical for various obvious reasons.
The Brave Blade starts out very strong, but it will only get weaker and
weaker. It will never get stronger. The Chicken Knife, on the other hand,
starts out very weak, but it will only get stronger and stronger, until
127. It will never get weaker. It's already obvious that the Chicken Knife
is the more practical Weapon to take here.
Many people have argued that the Brave Blade is more powerful than the
Chicken Knife, since the Max Power of the Brave Blade is 150, while the
Max Power of the Chicken Knife is 127. This means that a Max Brave Blade
will always deal more damage than a Max Chicken Knife.
THESE PEOPLE ARE WRONG!
Let's take a look at Tseng Instructrtrepe's damage formula for both Weapons,
assuming that they are both Maxed out. Also, let's assume that you are at
Level 99, with all Jobs Maxed out. That leaves you with Monk's Strength
and Thief's Agility, 50 and 40 respectively, without taking individual
Character Stat Bonus and Equipment Bonus.
Brave Blade Formula
Damage = (150 - Def) X [ ( 99 X 50 / 128 ) + 2 ]
Damage = (150 - Def) X 40.67
Chicken Knife Formula
Damage = (127 - Def) X { [ 99 X ( 50 + 40 ) / 128 ] + 2 }
Damage = (127 - Def) X 71.6
Do the Math yourself. From this formula, it's pretty obvious that the
only way that the Brave Blade can deal more damage than the Chicken Knife
is if the enemy's Defense is anywhere near 100.
The reason why Chicken Knife is more powerful, is because the Agility of
the Character will also affect the damage. Brave Blade does not have that.
And that's without taking into consideration the individual character
bonus and equipment bonus. The higher the Agility, the more powerful the
Chicken Knife will be. Being a Knife, Chicken Knife will also halve the
enemy evade. Use !Midareuchi Command, to reduce Def to 0, and see the
even greater difference. A great disadvantage is the Chicken Knife's
Escape activation. That is the only disadvantage, compared to all the
advantages the Chicken Knife have. (Unless you consider the Selling Price.)
Oh, and Brave Blade is a better weapon for Goblin Punch.
Test this out for yourself. My Chicken Knife is a lot more powerful than
the Ragnarok, which is only slightly behind the Brave Blade.