I liked Edward. What is everyone bitching about?

[ReloadPsi]

Even the first time I ever played this game, I did not find Edward useless at all, despite finding his Auto-Hide very annoying.

Edward's in your party for a substantially short period of the game, and during that time he possesses the ability to either put enemies to sleep or confuse them by means of a basic attack, depending on his current weapon. And during that time, you've got a lot of enemies that take more than one hit to kill, so when Eddie confuses/sleeps them, they are not a threat to your more useful characters (ie Rydia and Rosa). And unlike characters who have to cast Sleep for 12 MP as a black spell or Confuse as a white spell for whatever it costs, this is free. The spells can fail, and waste MP. Edward's attacks can simply not have the effect, and NOT waste MP (mainly because he has none but still).

I leave both him and Yang dead and naked during the Fabul invasion as Cecil's the only character who will benefit from it in any way whatsoever... and even then he's about to get leveled down to 1, so there is absolutely zero point in caring who's alive during that sequence.

And after that he and everyone else gets Leviapwned so he no longer gets used.

So what's everyone bitching about? He's a temporary character whose "useless" abilities happen to work perfectly on every enemy during his tenure as a party member. Sure he can't damage for crap and takes hits like a schoolgirl, but the same goes for Yang and nobody has a problem with that. Oddly enough, Yang also gets weapons that induce confuse! What, is Yang just a direct replacement designed to look more useful?

Last time I proclaimed something useless in an FF game, people claimed I didn't know how to play it, so I'm therefore telling all those Edward-haters out there that they do not know how to play FF. *raspberry*

I'm playing the US SNES version at the moment, and I'm really missing that Potion-splitter-thingy he can do.

[Momiji]

Well, what do you think? He's whiny and has a harp with low attack. While I personally don't mind him, it seems the main view of a lot of RPG players today is if they can't do a lot of damage or if they don't have a sword/axe/weapon of mass destruction, they're not cool. Not to mention hiding is a sign of cowardice, something that is a no-no in the mind set that all characters have to be ballsy men-of-steel. I mean, if YOU were approached by a big, mean, ugly monster and your only weapon is a harp, wouldn't you run and hide? Damn right you would.

While I personally wouldn't use him later on in the game, he's good for what he is early on, and his attack sound effect is cool. I thought he was a creative character, but is more of a novelty character later on. (In terms of FFIV Advance).

[Yar]

He's fine when there is a hole within your "party-of-five" to fill, but after you lose him on the boat, he'd probably be my second to last choice as a character, right before FuSoYa.

[Avarice-ness]

In the words of my husband:

"Oh hey he confused that thing, that's kinda cool."
"Oh now he's dead!"
"Oh no he's dead again!"
"I think I'll just leave him dead from now on."

[The Watcher]

He is a spoony bard. What else did you expect?
In the SNES version i played, i dont think i ever had edward give an ailment, and only sometimes in GBA FFIV. Only in this DS one is he getting them decently. Maybe its just my luck, but when i have the option of championing paladins, troubled dragoons, sexy summoners, and the like...a bard with the skill of auto hide doesnt come to the forefront of greatness.

[scrumpleberry]

I thought he was an alright character as far as they go, but I certainly wuoldn't have him in the party unless absolutely necessary.

[Zeromus_X]

He's pretty awesome in the GBA version. Every other version...not as much.

Still a cool guy though.

[ljkkjlcm9]

I can't argue about Bardsong being a good ability... but now in the DS version, I can give that to any character after I get the augment from him later. Edward's biggest problem is that he is weak and fragile. I think his abilities are actually quite useful, just not when he has them.

By my third play through of FFIV DS with all the augments...Three of my characters will have Bard song(Edge, Rosa, Kain), and two will have Salve(Kain, Edge) another two with Hide (Edge, Rosa).

THE JACKEL

[Roogle]

Edward was one of the more unique characters from a gameplay perspective. His abilities were varied.

I wish that he was in the party longer so that the community would be less divided about his usefulness or uselessness. I think that the amount of time that he is in the game — two dungeons and a boss battle — is not long enough to make an assessment of his gameplay compared to that of other characters because we see so little from him.

Edward has the best statistical increases upon level up; Tellah has the worst statistical increases upon level up. It is an interesting dynamic.

[,,,]

In the words of my husband:

"Oh hey he confused that thing, that's kinda cool."
"Oh now he's dead!"
"Oh no he's dead again!"
"I think I'll just leave him dead from now on."

lmao, yeah, pretty much that.

I agree that his status-inducing attacks can be very useful, but all that potential usefulness means precisely dick when he goes down so easy. Worse is his auto-hide feature. A hiding character is equally as useful as a dead character, so all the enemies have to do is knock him down to "wounded" status for him to be basically dead. Then add the fact that he's only in your party for a small part of the early game and you can see why nobody really cares about him. "bitching" about him may be going too far, I suppose, because his fragility is the only major problem of his, and we can all say the same thing about Edge...

[ReloadPsi]

it seems the main view of a lot of RPG players today is if they can't do a lot of damage or if they don't have a sword/axe/weapon of mass destruction, they're not cool

Yeah, that's just it A lot of people fail to realise how much fun it is to play around with the extra stuff you don't necessarily need... or how useful it can be if leveling is dull/an issue for you.

I understand that in the GBA remake, when you're given the opportunity to place Edward back in the party, he still freakin' hides on low HP... again the one thing about him that annoyed me. Is this true?

Now since there's also his piss poor offensive power, I can understand that people wouldn't pick him later on, but then who the hell used the bard in FFIII?

[Zeromus_X]

I understand that in the GBA remake, when you're given the opportunity to place Edward back in the party, he still freakin' hides on low HP... again the one thing about him that annoyed me. Is this true?

Now since there's also his piss poor offensive power, I can understand that people wouldn't pick him later on, but then who the hell used the bard in FFIII?

He still does. This can be solved by healing before he gets a turn, should he ever reach critical condition.

His offensive power really isn't anything to laugh at; although it isn't anything on par with Cecil or Kain it's certainly acceptable and against undead and dragons his ultimate weapon is guaranteed to do straight 9s.

His special ability in that version was also nice, it was pretty much a Mighty Guard type of effect. So if you didn't want to attack with Edward you could just buff up the party's defense. Even better since Protect and Shell stack in FFIV.

[black orb]

>>> Edward was my best character in battle. I was disappointed when he left the party.

[Unstoppable Pig]

Edward is ty characters battle-wise, personality is ok. He is more useful when he helps heroes from Toroia than being a party member.

In GBA version he is good character when on high levels but there are many better ones. Cecil, Yang, Edge and Kain all hit harder and better. Cid is only one who actually worse since his scan ability is much more useless than Edwards skills.

Brachioraidos or what ever was that big lizard name is hard but with Edward makes good damage on him. That lizard is the second hardest boss in Lunar Ruins.

[Edge_Without_Pants]

I suppose, because his fragility is the only major problem of his, and we can all say the same thing about Edge...

Hey now, let's leave Edge out of the "fragile" category. Yes, his magical defense stinks on ice, but you can't touch him physically with black garb. Even Behemoth and Red Giant have trouble with Edge alone! Add in the fact that every shuriken did over 4K in my first play through (keep in mind that I only got up to mid 70's) and Edge might as well be a physical tank. Better than Kain, at least :P