Playable story characters

[Raistlin]

Not including Ramza. Also possibly excluding Orlandu, because he is too badass.

I always use generics and ignore most of the story characters, but I often like to use Mustadio after you first get him, because guns are just cool. He quickly falls behind everything else in terms of effectiveness, but it is fun to occasionally disable enemies with one shot.

Do you regularly bother with the story characters? Who's your favorite?

[VeloZer0]

I usually lay out any conditions for what classes/characters I am using right at the start of any given playthrough. Usualy I am trying to handicap myself to spice things up, so special characters are the first thing to go. Though I do enjoy to just power through the game every once and a while.

But even if I go for a 'no special characters' playthrough I allow Mustado because he doesn't offer all that much more than a generic. And theoretically Raffa and Malak, but I think leveling them up from the point you get them in the game makes them significantly worse than generics.

[Slothy]

I've always used generics before since they're usually farther along in their job classes once you start getting story characters worth using. Orlandu was always the exception of course. On my current playthrough I made the conscious decision to start using as many story characters as possible. Some of them certainly have some neat abilities.

[Madonna]

Most of my playthroughs have been with generic crews, whether they be all chocobo, ninja, or whatever because you get a lot of control over a unit's evolution that way. When you get those unique guys, they have a strange original job that you have to work into your battle plans and that throws off everything. It can be hard to decide where Mustadio's Snipe or Rafa's Truth is best played into your style, and I found it simpler to ignore them initially.

Nowadays, I do enjoy the unique characters and their jobs. Other than occasionally rolling with a crew of generics named after crews of friends, I use story characters when they appear (but not Orlandu, that cheap bastard) and start phasing out my generics; goodbye, Wulfhilda, and hello, Rafa. This makes the game more varied and forces the player to fight in ways they may not have. I like that.

[Hollycat]

I like to use the story characters and a single black mage.
I for some reason always read Mustadio as Moustachio.

[Del Murder]

I always use the story characters. When I get Agrias I use her until I eventually upgrade with Orlandu. I also use Reis, Beowulf (third best character in the game, maybe second best), Meliadoul, even that bastard Cloud. Balthier in the PSP version is pretty awesome as well. My party typically goes with Ramza, two generics, and the rest story characters.

[SteahMeLee]

I always use the story characters because they matter with the story, while generic units are just "soldiers", no matter how strong they could be... The PSX version is also very limited in unit slots and you can't keep all the story characters/monsters and also the starting generic units!

There are Rad, Lavian and Alicia that are both story and generic and I give them the classes I can't avoid to have in any Final Fantasy: Thief/Ninja, Black Mage/Time Mage and White Mage/Summoner...

I'm used to combine the other generic classes with the story character classes!

Agrias is also a common Knight with Battle Skill for example... The Knight command goes as the secondary command...

For Mustadio I apply the usual Machinist/Chemist combination I usually apply when I have a gunner (also Vincent, Irvine, Balthier, etc.) and Chemists use guns even here...

I don't know if it's suited or not but I setup Malak to be also a Monk, making him actually strong... His Hell Knight class has a somewhat oriental feeling and his "spells" resembles more KI moves than magic...

It's not to be even mentioned that Reis is also a Dragoon with spears and Jump...


But always as a secondary command inside their natural class...

[Jaffer]

Beowulf and Cloud are both cool to use. Worker 8 and Balthier if I'm feeling cheap.

[SteahMeLee]

Beowulf and Cloud are both cool to use. Worker 8 and Balthier if I'm feeling cheap.

Worker 8 is basically an anti-caster! XD

Balthier of the PSP version is Engineer and Thief fused together if I remember correctly...

[NeoCracker]

I'd always put so damn much into my units by the time I start getting Story Characters, my smurfs could not be lower for raising them up too.

Edit: Which is sad, cause I'd always intended to use the Heaven and Hell Knights, cause their abilities are awesome.

[SteahMeLee]

Edit: Which is sad, cause I'd always intended to use the Heaven and Hell Knights, cause their abilities are awesome.

I use them a lot! More Malak than Rafa though but still...

Their original classes abilities are cool but quite unpredictable! They seem to have an oriental look, so I give them support basic classes that are both oriental...

Malak to be also a Monk (with Punch Art and Martial Arts he starts to really kick ass) and Rafa to be also an Oracle that is a Mage with oriental attire...

The physical one that benefits low Faith and magical one that benefits high Faith... This makes also their original skill to be maximized...

[Roogle]

Do you regularly bother with the story characters? Who's your favorite?

Yes, I actually play the game outside of Chapter 1 with only characters provided by the story.

I like Rapha and Marach a lot because they are the first provided characters aside from Ladd who have magical skillsets, finally giving me a chance to play around with more command sets.

[SteahMeLee]

Actually Marach benefits from low Faith so he could be more a warrior than a Mage but sub-classes like Monk or Geomancer works great on him...

Ladd could be made a Mage but he is almost like any generic unit!

[Roogle]

The Faith status allows him to bypass his low Faith when spellcasting while still allowing Nether Mantra to work properly, at least.

[VeloZer0]

Holy crap, I didn't know the 'Faith' status effect worked in reverse for Malak's special abilities. This makes him almost worth considering using on par with generics.

EDIT: That sounded snarky. I mean that he still isn't as good as other special characters, but now isn't worse than generics.