Razade
2022-03-18, 07:31 AM
Just finished Triangle Strategy for the first play through, surprised to not see a thread about this game here honestly. Elden Ring clearly over-ran any other RPG being released around the same time. I'll keep things to spoilers in this post at least for the major points so minor spoilers beware. The game takes place on a continent that...apparently has never heard of the ocean as when "a sea" is mentioned the characters collectively act like a huge body of water is just out of reality. The continent (idk how they can call it that when they're clearly in the center of a much larger landmass) is made up of the Aesfrost in the North who have access to lots of iron, Glenbrook in the south which sits on a massive number of rivers and Hyzante, a theocracy that controls vast deserts and a massive salt lake called The Source. Their religion is based off a Goddess of Slat. Glenbrook acts as a sort of go between with Aesfrost and Hyzante, where iron and salt are traded. I also suspect where most of the food is grown but it's never brought up. Thirty years prior there was a big war over salt and iron trade, and it's the source of the conflict in the game as the thirty years was mostly just a breathing period. The typical JRPG stuff happens. One side kills one of the other sides, you and the team are caught in the middle. You're the vassal of the King of Glenbrook, the aforementioned murdered party, also wed to an Aesfrost noble, the murderer party. Your wife to be is also part of a racial minority called the Roselle which Hyzante has enslaved to harvest salt at the Source. The Golden Route sees all these issues put aside but I'll leave it there for others to discover how.
Got the Golden Route on my first try and sort of regretted it. Had been playing on Hard but the Golden Route splits you up into three teams and it's really clear they wanted you to have all the characters so you could have three full teams of ten with a dedicated healer in each. I missed one of the non-insane requirement characters, and the three characters unique to the other three endings, and there would have been a lot of grinding as I didn't really keep up with some of the worse characters so I just moved the game to easy so I could finish. With how the last few fights are, I didn't really regret it.
My main team was easily fully upgraded with almost all their unlocks finished at the final chapter. Most missions allow you 10 characters and other than the main character, most are pretty forgiving on who you have to take along. The game rewards you both for taking the recommended characters and not taking the recommended characters, and often times the recommended characters were...not very good options in general, so I rarely if ever fulfilled the former.
The rewards, like every other choice, are points towards one of the three morality colors the game presents. Liberty, Morality and Utility. Utility was the hardest of the three to get, which is why I missed out on the last non-"post game" characters where as Morality and Liberty were pretty easy to farm and raise though I didn't reach the requirement to get the "post game" characters probably because I switched to focusing on Utility so I could get the characters I was missing out on halfway through. Each of the 30 characters is assigned to one of these Morality colors and upgrading them raises their associated Morality, as does promoting them. The game is not quite like Final Fantasy Tactics which it very much wants to be everywhere else, in that characters have a fixed "class" and you make them better by promotion. Luckily characters that join you start at the second tier at some point so you don't have to farm that particular Rank Up item, but none of them stat at the final tier so you do have some hard choices by the end.
These Morality values have a lot of influence on the choices you can make during phases where you decide which route you want to go. Saw a lot of complaints about, and even hit a, soft lock that almost kept me from doing the Golden Route though a little grinding overcame it. The game is also not kidding when it says your choices matter. Not just because there's a Golden Route but there are a lot of branching paths even in chapters that aren't the big decision moments. These can effect characters you unlock (six of the 30 available), what battles you fight and access to side stories and information that you might need for other routes down the NG+ line to make getting other routes easier in successive play throughs. I don't want to spoil any actual story beats out of spoilers, so I'll run down the characters I did get and weigh in on how useful they are/some story moments. They're spoilered for a reason. I'm leaving off the characters I didn't unlock for obvious reason.
Rank: S, Serenoa is an all around powerhouse with good defense and good health and you have to use him every battle so he better be good
Gimmick: He can counter after a certain level but he doesn't really have a gimmick like the others. He's your all around guy, and he's great at it with plenty of wide ranging attacks.
Story thoughts: As the main character, you spend the most time in his head and it's...not the worst time. He's kind of a wet blanket but he is being thrust into leadership with a dying father during a massive war that might well see his entire house destroyed. He's faithful and kind to Frederica and their romance is a slow burn but it builds into a believable bonfire by the end, and I mostly went hard for the Golden Route to make sure they got their wedding.
Overall thoughts:There's not a whole lot to say here. Serenoa is your typical fantasy night JRPG character and he does what he's meant to in combat and in the story. You could replace him with any other JRPG hero and probably not notice.
Rank: A, she's a solid character but really one note and a lot of enemies resist Fire Damage. She's also weak to Ice so if you don't give her an Ice Resist item she's a sitting duck for Ice Enemies...which are a lot of the caster and ranged enemies. Makes her really vunerable.
Gimmick: Frederica is your Fire Mage and that's all she does. She can set terrain on fire, melt Ice and she's got good DPs when things don't resist her Type.
Story thoughts: A soft spoken female character that just wants peace and everyone to get along? Well that's a new twist. Joking aside, other than the fantasy racism angle she doesn't bring a whole lot to the table. She's the Morality Standard Bearer and it shows. She wants you, and everyone, to do the right thing for the right reason but generally doesn't make a grump about it throughout the story as she's a faithful wife to be.
Overall thoughts:She and Seraona as said have a good chemistry but not a very exciting or unique one. She is your main caster and...she does that job well enough. Otherwise she's just kinda the bland, girl-y girl JRPG heroine and that's a shame with how the majority of women in the game are quite the badasses.
Rank: A, lot of health and good skills but weak in a fight. Becomes S once you've leveled him up and he gets access to his better skills.
Gimmick: Benedict is your Buffer and his late buffs, which allow you to act twice in a turn or move you to the front of the turn order are great. His other buffs are just ok.
Story thoughts: Benedict is your advisor, and the advisor of your dying father, and he's all for House Wolffort and seeing Sereona come out on top. He is the Utility Standard Bearer and it shows just as much as Frederica does. He's very stern but they do a good job showing how much he cares about Sereona and his adopted daughter surrogate Anna. He's the one that grumps the most when you don't follow his paths, but he is dutiful and they never pull the betrayal card which they do highlight now and then with him. He is, regardless of your choices until the final choice, on your side.
Overall thoughts:He's a must have for combat, and he's one of the most engaging characters if not one you'll enjoy on every route.
Rank: S. She's the Healer.
Gimmick: She's the Healer. She also gets Haste which moves your turn order around.
Story thoughts: Geela is Frederica's attendant and tutor. She's soft spoken but firm when she needs to be though takes a backseat for all but the most dire of the path choices. She has a lot of smarts but they really don't show them off often.
Overall thoughts:While Geela isn't the best Healer you can get, she's your first and she's got Haste. Her contributions to the story are kinda minimal and that's sort of a disappointment as her side story is engaging and shows a clever, ardent, woman with ideals better served in a world without war.
Rank: A, a solid fighter with good mobility
Gimmick: Roland is on a horse so he has good movement range, has a lance so he can attack two enemies if they're lined up and his moves push people around and keep up the "hitting multiples in a line" deal.
Story thoughts: Roland is the second son and by circumstances heir to the throne. He spends a great deal of the story whining about this, and while he and Sereona's friendship feels real, he tries to martyr himself at every turn and it got a bit obnoxious that every character continued to act like he was the important one just because he was King...which he didn't want to be. He also, at the final decision before your ending is set, decides he wants to convert to the Salt religion and let the theocracy which has held the entire continent in a vice grip by controlling salt prices and ya know...enslaving an entire people...run the show. That was the final straw for me even after you give him a serious dressing down and he regrets being such a coward in the Golden Route.
Overall thoughts:Roland's a really useful combatant though his health and defense make him kinda squishy. Still useful to keep around and a lot of the maps require him to be used so even if you don't care for his playstyle...tough. I can't say too much more without spoiling the Golden Route but he doesn't deserve the ending he gets.
Rank: S. She's hilarious broken.
Gimmick: Hughette is a hawk rider with a great bow. She has a wider attack area the higher up she is on the map. She also gets access to a lot of debuffs making her the crowd control queen.
Story thoughts: Hughette is the loyal guard of Roland, the last of the Kingsguard and overall just a cold hard baddass who rides a giant hawk. She's generally on the side of Roland but can break with him when she feels he's not putting his best interests forward. She also treats the other characters with respect and overall...she's just grand. Strong women in JRPGs is a good thing and she's tough as nails.
Overall thoughts:Hughette is, as I said, hilariously broken. She gets a move that has a chance, a high chance, of not letting an enemy move while also doing a ton of damage with the hit. She can go to points on the map nothing can reach her and basically solo maps if you wanted to take a lot of time. Combined with a few other characters to set up double attacks and to take advantage of foes that can't move, she's a must have for any map where her gimmick shines and a good recommendation even on those that don't.
Rank: B
Gimmick: Erador can taunt, has high defense and can counter enemies in front of him.
Story thoughts: Erador is a loyal retainer of the Wolfforts and basically a surrogate uncle to Serenoa. He's loud and enthusiastic and...that's really all that he has going for him. He's like Benedict in he really only cares about House Wolffort. He is sort of the team dad in side stories but in the main story he doesn't add a whole lot.
Overall thoughts:Erador is a solid tank but he's very slow and his move range isn't great. I used him when I had no better options early, or if I had an extra slot or two, but generally Itook someone else. He's not bad, he's just not great.
Rank: S
Gimmick: Anna is the rouge/stealth character. She also gets to act twice, though only gets to move once, so she's very nimble.
Story thoughts: Anna is a scout/assassin/dogsbody for Benedict. She's cool, quiet and generally just does what's asked of her. She's the typical silent badass female rogue. She rarely has an opinion you don't give her, or Benedict gives her. There's no much more to say, she's just kinda there for the story and acts as exposition when skulking.
Overall thoughts:Anna is a glass cannon. Her ability to stealth, sneak behind enemies and attack twice or throw poison and then put someone to sleep and move around makes her an insanely good choice and when paired with Sereona once he hits enemy lines or following around Hughette to pick off the things she weakens makes her probably the best combat character.
Rank: B
Gimmick: Your Ice Mage, focuses on slowing enemies and making barriers
Story thoughts: Corentin is your first story divergence pick. He's a mage from Hyzante and that's really all you get from him.
Overall thoughts:Ice Damage is a weakness more often than fire but his slow turn speed and less offensive magic saw me swap him out pretty quickly once I got Narve. He's not bad, I used him, Frederica and Narve as a mage trio for a long while but by the end he was out of rotation.
Rank: C
Gimmick: Hossabara can heal around herself and has a horse so has good movement. She also earns TP, the thing that lets you use moves, when she moves a distance so she's rarely without a special move.
Story thoughts: Hossabara is the inn keeper of your base camp. She's a big, loud momma bear. Like all the other recruits, she doesn't really get any story outside her side story and other recruitable's side stories.
Overall thoughts:Her heal doesn't heal much but she can spam it, the issue is she has to be right beside you and doesn't heal herself when she heals you and everyone else around. She's not very defensive so she's often taking pot shots to heal on the front lines. If you need a good secondary healer, she comes in in a pinch but she's not a strong combatant and not a strong healer. Just kinda a worse option for both.
Rank: S
Gimmick: Julio takes TP away from enemies and can grant it to your teammates.
Story thoughts: Julio was a strategist for the trader's guild but his morality made him defect. Very stern but with a good heart.
Overall thoughts:When kept around the Mages he's insanely powerful. He's not strong on his own as you'd expect but he's invaluable if you want to crank out AoE damage.
Rank: F
Gimmick: Jens builds things. Traps and ladders. They're very situational...
Story thoughts: Jens is the encampment blacksmith. That's all.
Overall thoughts:I hated Jens. His attack is weak, his traps are very hard to pull off and overall...yeah. I never used him. He gets an auto-turret when he's fully upgraded but who cares.
Rank: A
Gimmick: Narve is the mage's mage. He gets a lot of spells and with upgrades, the spells debuff.
Story thoughts: Narve is the grandson of an archemage, and has a cool hat. He wants to spread the name of his grandfather, and he does so by the end of the side stories.
Overall thoughts:Narve gets access to a spell of each damage type, an area heal and his base attack isn't bad. As you'd expect he's a TP glutton but when paired with Julio he's the best caster in the game. I used him pretty much as soon as I could even without keeping Julio around in my team. He's a great spot healer and often can get a few early big spells out to soften things up. He's only at an A because all his spells take a lot of TP.
Rank: F, but maybe S too.
Gimmick: Media is a healer, but with items. She can use more than one a turn with better range.
Story thoughts: Media is just a shy girl who wants to heal people. All the cliche of Frederica, none of the redeeming story emphasis.
Overall thoughts:Medina is the best healer in the game because items are the best heals in the game. Unfortunately the shops don't have an unlimited supply, don't always restock between chapters and unless you really, really, grind money is not a commodity you have in excess. This makes her the best so long as you can afford her and honestly, Geela is almost as good and doesn't burn your wallet which lets you focus on upgrades.
Rank: F
Gimmick: Lionel earns you more money and can make enemies defect to your side.
Story thoughts: Lional is the merchant for your encampment and that's his entire character. He likes money, and is fat. Just a terrible character from start to finish.
Overall thoughts:I honestly never used him. Even in the mission I absolutely had to he was so under-leveled and useless he died and I had an easier time without dealing with his turn. While money is a precious commodity he doesn't earn you enough without you cheesing the game to make him worthwhile.
Rank: D
Gimmick: She controls the weather. It doesn't really do much.
Story thoughts: Ezana is a shamaness who can control the weather. Her art is awesome, she has zero impact on the story, or side stories other than her own and is an honest let down, as she could have really added to the story.
Overall thoughts:Her abilities to change the weather are too random to build a strategy around and her lightning spells, and all lightning spells, can deal damage to anything standing in water. The issue is that it has friendly fire and while it can paralyze enemies and allies, it mostly just did it to my allies. I stopped using her because she was a massive liability when I could use her consistently and totally useless because of her random powers otherwise. If you like lighting and can plan around it, she's a good AoE damage character.
Rank: B
Gimmick: Archibald is an archer that deals more damage the further he is away from his enemiy.
Story thoughts: A former member of the leading caste of Hyzante, he turns away from them and their teachers and wanders the world. He doesn't have much outside of a few side stories but in the ones he's in, he is a grandfatherly figure with a love of life and eager to teach the younger characters. His side stories were a total pleasure.
Overall thoughts:Archibald is old, and like most old people he doesn't get around well. His turn order is slow, even with upgrades his movement range is terrible but his attack range and damage make up for it. He gets insta-kill abilities, abilities that ignore defenses, all in all just a nightmare on maps where range is important and generally good as a backline sniper on all the rest. He'd be an A if he had better movement. I still used him as a permanent character on my team.
Rank: C
Gimmick: Flannagan is the tankiest tank. He has good movement speed because he is also on a hawk. He can taunt and takes less damage from the front.
Story thoughts: I didn't get to see Flannagan's side story because I got him really late, but what I did get to see of him was an honorable man who left his regiment but couldn't abide the current war. A silent but powerful figure.
Overall thoughts:Basically Erador but more mobile with slightly worse damage to make up for it. If you need a tank, he's your man, but he's nothing special otherwise. His character art and game sprite are good though and having two hawks on the field is sweet. He's basically best as a hit and taunter, forcing enemies to follow him around, but not really strong enough to finish those that do off.
Rank: C
Gimmick: Milo can move around the map easily and has access to a lot of debuffs.
Story thoughts: Milo is a late game story character that you get if you do the Golden Route. She's a spy for Hyzante and sells a lot of your secrets out but you somehow keep her around. Not sure why, it's never really addressed. She asks to join your house, you let her and she still feeds info to Hyzante. No one puts a knife in her and that's a real damn shame.
Overall thoughts:Milo is a dancer, she's got good movement, has moves that let her be even more mobile and her debuffs are pretty solid. She's paper thin as you'd expect, both in health and defense so that mobility isn't particularly useful if you let her get too far away. You have to use her in a couple combats, but when I wasn't forced to, I didn't use her.
Rank: A
Gimmick: Ser Maxwell is basically just Roland without a horse + a Final Fantay Dragoon.
Story thoughts: Ser Maxwell is a bonus character, one of the higher end recruits but also the teacher to Roland in the combat arts and a defender of the king. He is taken out of the story fairly early but you can get him by the end of the story. My guess is to basically replace Roland if you don't choose his route if you don't get the Golden Route. He's stoic, honorable and basically Char without the red.
Overall thoughts:Like I said, he's Roland without the mobility but also...more mobility in he can bounce around the stage like Milo. He's a strong front line fighter, with the same spear mechanics as Roland. I didn't use him, as I had Roland, but if I didn't, I'd have replaced Roland with Ser Maxwell which as I've also said is clearly what they intend for you to do.
Rank: A
Gimmick: The lower her health the more damage she does.
Story thoughts: Avlora is the General of the Aesfrost forces and you only get her with the Golden Route. She's stern, all for a meritocracy as she climbed the ranks of the Aesfrost ranks and is as cold and hard as the iron her people value. She is a terror to fight, but you can't help but respect her grit and while a stern and brutal foe, she has a silent dignity about her and a respect for strength that makes it hard to hate her. She warms up some as she becomes the Queen's Sword, protecting Roland's sister when she's forced to wed the Aesfrost Duke in a political marriage. her side story also has her absolving her sins in the whole invasion plot she took part of.
Overall thoughts:Avlora is strong, to the point that I didn't have her upgraded at all until I hit NG+ and she was keeping toe to toe with my fully upgraded and promoted Sereona. Her moves do damage to her which fuels her gimmick but unless you've got a dedicated healer to stick around her she burns out fast. That's why she's not an S. She's also very one note, in that all she does is a lot of damage. The other front line fighters have a move or passive that gives them some other uses, but Avlora is all anger and pain all the time. She's also somewhat slow and her movement range isn't great which also keeps her an A, not an S. I considered dropping her to a B just because you have to do a very specific route to get her, but decided against it.
Rank: F-
Gimmick: She can make a decoy of herself and is an item user like Medina.
Story thoughts: She's an orphan from the circus. She's the obnoxious spunky kid character. She's at the bottom of the list because I straight up forgot she existed.
Overall thoughts:Decoy is useless, her item abilities are worse than Medina, she's got poor health and defense...I don't know what her point is. She's all the useless "strategy" of Jens with none of the damage or redeeming qualities and for some reason most put her at B. Like Medina, she's not good, items are good and her abilities do not make up for her taking up a slot a better, more versatile, character could be used in.
I might edit/make another post for all the characters I missed as I work through the alternate routes. Overall, it was a fun game, clearly intend to see the other three endings and get all the characters, a solid 8/10.
Got the Golden Route on my first try and sort of regretted it. Had been playing on Hard but the Golden Route splits you up into three teams and it's really clear they wanted you to have all the characters so you could have three full teams of ten with a dedicated healer in each. I missed one of the non-insane requirement characters, and the three characters unique to the other three endings, and there would have been a lot of grinding as I didn't really keep up with some of the worse characters so I just moved the game to easy so I could finish. With how the last few fights are, I didn't really regret it.
My main team was easily fully upgraded with almost all their unlocks finished at the final chapter. Most missions allow you 10 characters and other than the main character, most are pretty forgiving on who you have to take along. The game rewards you both for taking the recommended characters and not taking the recommended characters, and often times the recommended characters were...not very good options in general, so I rarely if ever fulfilled the former.
The rewards, like every other choice, are points towards one of the three morality colors the game presents. Liberty, Morality and Utility. Utility was the hardest of the three to get, which is why I missed out on the last non-"post game" characters where as Morality and Liberty were pretty easy to farm and raise though I didn't reach the requirement to get the "post game" characters probably because I switched to focusing on Utility so I could get the characters I was missing out on halfway through. Each of the 30 characters is assigned to one of these Morality colors and upgrading them raises their associated Morality, as does promoting them. The game is not quite like Final Fantasy Tactics which it very much wants to be everywhere else, in that characters have a fixed "class" and you make them better by promotion. Luckily characters that join you start at the second tier at some point so you don't have to farm that particular Rank Up item, but none of them stat at the final tier so you do have some hard choices by the end.
These Morality values have a lot of influence on the choices you can make during phases where you decide which route you want to go. Saw a lot of complaints about, and even hit a, soft lock that almost kept me from doing the Golden Route though a little grinding overcame it. The game is also not kidding when it says your choices matter. Not just because there's a Golden Route but there are a lot of branching paths even in chapters that aren't the big decision moments. These can effect characters you unlock (six of the 30 available), what battles you fight and access to side stories and information that you might need for other routes down the NG+ line to make getting other routes easier in successive play throughs. I don't want to spoil any actual story beats out of spoilers, so I'll run down the characters I did get and weigh in on how useful they are/some story moments. They're spoilered for a reason. I'm leaving off the characters I didn't unlock for obvious reason.
Rank: S, Serenoa is an all around powerhouse with good defense and good health and you have to use him every battle so he better be good
Gimmick: He can counter after a certain level but he doesn't really have a gimmick like the others. He's your all around guy, and he's great at it with plenty of wide ranging attacks.
Story thoughts: As the main character, you spend the most time in his head and it's...not the worst time. He's kind of a wet blanket but he is being thrust into leadership with a dying father during a massive war that might well see his entire house destroyed. He's faithful and kind to Frederica and their romance is a slow burn but it builds into a believable bonfire by the end, and I mostly went hard for the Golden Route to make sure they got their wedding.
Overall thoughts:There's not a whole lot to say here. Serenoa is your typical fantasy night JRPG character and he does what he's meant to in combat and in the story. You could replace him with any other JRPG hero and probably not notice.
Rank: A, she's a solid character but really one note and a lot of enemies resist Fire Damage. She's also weak to Ice so if you don't give her an Ice Resist item she's a sitting duck for Ice Enemies...which are a lot of the caster and ranged enemies. Makes her really vunerable.
Gimmick: Frederica is your Fire Mage and that's all she does. She can set terrain on fire, melt Ice and she's got good DPs when things don't resist her Type.
Story thoughts: A soft spoken female character that just wants peace and everyone to get along? Well that's a new twist. Joking aside, other than the fantasy racism angle she doesn't bring a whole lot to the table. She's the Morality Standard Bearer and it shows. She wants you, and everyone, to do the right thing for the right reason but generally doesn't make a grump about it throughout the story as she's a faithful wife to be.
Overall thoughts:She and Seraona as said have a good chemistry but not a very exciting or unique one. She is your main caster and...she does that job well enough. Otherwise she's just kinda the bland, girl-y girl JRPG heroine and that's a shame with how the majority of women in the game are quite the badasses.
Rank: A, lot of health and good skills but weak in a fight. Becomes S once you've leveled him up and he gets access to his better skills.
Gimmick: Benedict is your Buffer and his late buffs, which allow you to act twice in a turn or move you to the front of the turn order are great. His other buffs are just ok.
Story thoughts: Benedict is your advisor, and the advisor of your dying father, and he's all for House Wolffort and seeing Sereona come out on top. He is the Utility Standard Bearer and it shows just as much as Frederica does. He's very stern but they do a good job showing how much he cares about Sereona and his adopted daughter surrogate Anna. He's the one that grumps the most when you don't follow his paths, but he is dutiful and they never pull the betrayal card which they do highlight now and then with him. He is, regardless of your choices until the final choice, on your side.
Overall thoughts:He's a must have for combat, and he's one of the most engaging characters if not one you'll enjoy on every route.
Rank: S. She's the Healer.
Gimmick: She's the Healer. She also gets Haste which moves your turn order around.
Story thoughts: Geela is Frederica's attendant and tutor. She's soft spoken but firm when she needs to be though takes a backseat for all but the most dire of the path choices. She has a lot of smarts but they really don't show them off often.
Overall thoughts:While Geela isn't the best Healer you can get, she's your first and she's got Haste. Her contributions to the story are kinda minimal and that's sort of a disappointment as her side story is engaging and shows a clever, ardent, woman with ideals better served in a world without war.
Rank: A, a solid fighter with good mobility
Gimmick: Roland is on a horse so he has good movement range, has a lance so he can attack two enemies if they're lined up and his moves push people around and keep up the "hitting multiples in a line" deal.
Story thoughts: Roland is the second son and by circumstances heir to the throne. He spends a great deal of the story whining about this, and while he and Sereona's friendship feels real, he tries to martyr himself at every turn and it got a bit obnoxious that every character continued to act like he was the important one just because he was King...which he didn't want to be. He also, at the final decision before your ending is set, decides he wants to convert to the Salt religion and let the theocracy which has held the entire continent in a vice grip by controlling salt prices and ya know...enslaving an entire people...run the show. That was the final straw for me even after you give him a serious dressing down and he regrets being such a coward in the Golden Route.
Overall thoughts:Roland's a really useful combatant though his health and defense make him kinda squishy. Still useful to keep around and a lot of the maps require him to be used so even if you don't care for his playstyle...tough. I can't say too much more without spoiling the Golden Route but he doesn't deserve the ending he gets.
Rank: S. She's hilarious broken.
Gimmick: Hughette is a hawk rider with a great bow. She has a wider attack area the higher up she is on the map. She also gets access to a lot of debuffs making her the crowd control queen.
Story thoughts: Hughette is the loyal guard of Roland, the last of the Kingsguard and overall just a cold hard baddass who rides a giant hawk. She's generally on the side of Roland but can break with him when she feels he's not putting his best interests forward. She also treats the other characters with respect and overall...she's just grand. Strong women in JRPGs is a good thing and she's tough as nails.
Overall thoughts:Hughette is, as I said, hilariously broken. She gets a move that has a chance, a high chance, of not letting an enemy move while also doing a ton of damage with the hit. She can go to points on the map nothing can reach her and basically solo maps if you wanted to take a lot of time. Combined with a few other characters to set up double attacks and to take advantage of foes that can't move, she's a must have for any map where her gimmick shines and a good recommendation even on those that don't.
Rank: B
Gimmick: Erador can taunt, has high defense and can counter enemies in front of him.
Story thoughts: Erador is a loyal retainer of the Wolfforts and basically a surrogate uncle to Serenoa. He's loud and enthusiastic and...that's really all that he has going for him. He's like Benedict in he really only cares about House Wolffort. He is sort of the team dad in side stories but in the main story he doesn't add a whole lot.
Overall thoughts:Erador is a solid tank but he's very slow and his move range isn't great. I used him when I had no better options early, or if I had an extra slot or two, but generally Itook someone else. He's not bad, he's just not great.
Rank: S
Gimmick: Anna is the rouge/stealth character. She also gets to act twice, though only gets to move once, so she's very nimble.
Story thoughts: Anna is a scout/assassin/dogsbody for Benedict. She's cool, quiet and generally just does what's asked of her. She's the typical silent badass female rogue. She rarely has an opinion you don't give her, or Benedict gives her. There's no much more to say, she's just kinda there for the story and acts as exposition when skulking.
Overall thoughts:Anna is a glass cannon. Her ability to stealth, sneak behind enemies and attack twice or throw poison and then put someone to sleep and move around makes her an insanely good choice and when paired with Sereona once he hits enemy lines or following around Hughette to pick off the things she weakens makes her probably the best combat character.
Rank: B
Gimmick: Your Ice Mage, focuses on slowing enemies and making barriers
Story thoughts: Corentin is your first story divergence pick. He's a mage from Hyzante and that's really all you get from him.
Overall thoughts:Ice Damage is a weakness more often than fire but his slow turn speed and less offensive magic saw me swap him out pretty quickly once I got Narve. He's not bad, I used him, Frederica and Narve as a mage trio for a long while but by the end he was out of rotation.
Rank: C
Gimmick: Hossabara can heal around herself and has a horse so has good movement. She also earns TP, the thing that lets you use moves, when she moves a distance so she's rarely without a special move.
Story thoughts: Hossabara is the inn keeper of your base camp. She's a big, loud momma bear. Like all the other recruits, she doesn't really get any story outside her side story and other recruitable's side stories.
Overall thoughts:Her heal doesn't heal much but she can spam it, the issue is she has to be right beside you and doesn't heal herself when she heals you and everyone else around. She's not very defensive so she's often taking pot shots to heal on the front lines. If you need a good secondary healer, she comes in in a pinch but she's not a strong combatant and not a strong healer. Just kinda a worse option for both.
Rank: S
Gimmick: Julio takes TP away from enemies and can grant it to your teammates.
Story thoughts: Julio was a strategist for the trader's guild but his morality made him defect. Very stern but with a good heart.
Overall thoughts:When kept around the Mages he's insanely powerful. He's not strong on his own as you'd expect but he's invaluable if you want to crank out AoE damage.
Rank: F
Gimmick: Jens builds things. Traps and ladders. They're very situational...
Story thoughts: Jens is the encampment blacksmith. That's all.
Overall thoughts:I hated Jens. His attack is weak, his traps are very hard to pull off and overall...yeah. I never used him. He gets an auto-turret when he's fully upgraded but who cares.
Rank: A
Gimmick: Narve is the mage's mage. He gets a lot of spells and with upgrades, the spells debuff.
Story thoughts: Narve is the grandson of an archemage, and has a cool hat. He wants to spread the name of his grandfather, and he does so by the end of the side stories.
Overall thoughts:Narve gets access to a spell of each damage type, an area heal and his base attack isn't bad. As you'd expect he's a TP glutton but when paired with Julio he's the best caster in the game. I used him pretty much as soon as I could even without keeping Julio around in my team. He's a great spot healer and often can get a few early big spells out to soften things up. He's only at an A because all his spells take a lot of TP.
Rank: F, but maybe S too.
Gimmick: Media is a healer, but with items. She can use more than one a turn with better range.
Story thoughts: Media is just a shy girl who wants to heal people. All the cliche of Frederica, none of the redeeming story emphasis.
Overall thoughts:Medina is the best healer in the game because items are the best heals in the game. Unfortunately the shops don't have an unlimited supply, don't always restock between chapters and unless you really, really, grind money is not a commodity you have in excess. This makes her the best so long as you can afford her and honestly, Geela is almost as good and doesn't burn your wallet which lets you focus on upgrades.
Rank: F
Gimmick: Lionel earns you more money and can make enemies defect to your side.
Story thoughts: Lional is the merchant for your encampment and that's his entire character. He likes money, and is fat. Just a terrible character from start to finish.
Overall thoughts:I honestly never used him. Even in the mission I absolutely had to he was so under-leveled and useless he died and I had an easier time without dealing with his turn. While money is a precious commodity he doesn't earn you enough without you cheesing the game to make him worthwhile.
Rank: D
Gimmick: She controls the weather. It doesn't really do much.
Story thoughts: Ezana is a shamaness who can control the weather. Her art is awesome, she has zero impact on the story, or side stories other than her own and is an honest let down, as she could have really added to the story.
Overall thoughts:Her abilities to change the weather are too random to build a strategy around and her lightning spells, and all lightning spells, can deal damage to anything standing in water. The issue is that it has friendly fire and while it can paralyze enemies and allies, it mostly just did it to my allies. I stopped using her because she was a massive liability when I could use her consistently and totally useless because of her random powers otherwise. If you like lighting and can plan around it, she's a good AoE damage character.
Rank: B
Gimmick: Archibald is an archer that deals more damage the further he is away from his enemiy.
Story thoughts: A former member of the leading caste of Hyzante, he turns away from them and their teachers and wanders the world. He doesn't have much outside of a few side stories but in the ones he's in, he is a grandfatherly figure with a love of life and eager to teach the younger characters. His side stories were a total pleasure.
Overall thoughts:Archibald is old, and like most old people he doesn't get around well. His turn order is slow, even with upgrades his movement range is terrible but his attack range and damage make up for it. He gets insta-kill abilities, abilities that ignore defenses, all in all just a nightmare on maps where range is important and generally good as a backline sniper on all the rest. He'd be an A if he had better movement. I still used him as a permanent character on my team.
Rank: C
Gimmick: Flannagan is the tankiest tank. He has good movement speed because he is also on a hawk. He can taunt and takes less damage from the front.
Story thoughts: I didn't get to see Flannagan's side story because I got him really late, but what I did get to see of him was an honorable man who left his regiment but couldn't abide the current war. A silent but powerful figure.
Overall thoughts:Basically Erador but more mobile with slightly worse damage to make up for it. If you need a tank, he's your man, but he's nothing special otherwise. His character art and game sprite are good though and having two hawks on the field is sweet. He's basically best as a hit and taunter, forcing enemies to follow him around, but not really strong enough to finish those that do off.
Rank: C
Gimmick: Milo can move around the map easily and has access to a lot of debuffs.
Story thoughts: Milo is a late game story character that you get if you do the Golden Route. She's a spy for Hyzante and sells a lot of your secrets out but you somehow keep her around. Not sure why, it's never really addressed. She asks to join your house, you let her and she still feeds info to Hyzante. No one puts a knife in her and that's a real damn shame.
Overall thoughts:Milo is a dancer, she's got good movement, has moves that let her be even more mobile and her debuffs are pretty solid. She's paper thin as you'd expect, both in health and defense so that mobility isn't particularly useful if you let her get too far away. You have to use her in a couple combats, but when I wasn't forced to, I didn't use her.
Rank: A
Gimmick: Ser Maxwell is basically just Roland without a horse + a Final Fantay Dragoon.
Story thoughts: Ser Maxwell is a bonus character, one of the higher end recruits but also the teacher to Roland in the combat arts and a defender of the king. He is taken out of the story fairly early but you can get him by the end of the story. My guess is to basically replace Roland if you don't choose his route if you don't get the Golden Route. He's stoic, honorable and basically Char without the red.
Overall thoughts:Like I said, he's Roland without the mobility but also...more mobility in he can bounce around the stage like Milo. He's a strong front line fighter, with the same spear mechanics as Roland. I didn't use him, as I had Roland, but if I didn't, I'd have replaced Roland with Ser Maxwell which as I've also said is clearly what they intend for you to do.
Rank: A
Gimmick: The lower her health the more damage she does.
Story thoughts: Avlora is the General of the Aesfrost forces and you only get her with the Golden Route. She's stern, all for a meritocracy as she climbed the ranks of the Aesfrost ranks and is as cold and hard as the iron her people value. She is a terror to fight, but you can't help but respect her grit and while a stern and brutal foe, she has a silent dignity about her and a respect for strength that makes it hard to hate her. She warms up some as she becomes the Queen's Sword, protecting Roland's sister when she's forced to wed the Aesfrost Duke in a political marriage. her side story also has her absolving her sins in the whole invasion plot she took part of.
Overall thoughts:Avlora is strong, to the point that I didn't have her upgraded at all until I hit NG+ and she was keeping toe to toe with my fully upgraded and promoted Sereona. Her moves do damage to her which fuels her gimmick but unless you've got a dedicated healer to stick around her she burns out fast. That's why she's not an S. She's also very one note, in that all she does is a lot of damage. The other front line fighters have a move or passive that gives them some other uses, but Avlora is all anger and pain all the time. She's also somewhat slow and her movement range isn't great which also keeps her an A, not an S. I considered dropping her to a B just because you have to do a very specific route to get her, but decided against it.
Rank: F-
Gimmick: She can make a decoy of herself and is an item user like Medina.
Story thoughts: She's an orphan from the circus. She's the obnoxious spunky kid character. She's at the bottom of the list because I straight up forgot she existed.
Overall thoughts:Decoy is useless, her item abilities are worse than Medina, she's got poor health and defense...I don't know what her point is. She's all the useless "strategy" of Jens with none of the damage or redeeming qualities and for some reason most put her at B. Like Medina, she's not good, items are good and her abilities do not make up for her taking up a slot a better, more versatile, character could be used in.
I might edit/make another post for all the characters I missed as I work through the alternate routes. Overall, it was a fun game, clearly intend to see the other three endings and get all the characters, a solid 8/10.