RPG Galaxy

TERRA

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Terra begins with magic, which is always an asset. This makes her useful during the beginning of the game, as she is able to cure without using items. (You'll miss having a magic user on Sabin's side quest unless you've been storing up items.) However, later in the game her worth depends on how much time you spend "experiencing" with her: the more spells she learns, the better. If you work her up to the higher levels, the extra magic power will pay off.

SKILL:Morph (Terra morphs into an Esper with better strength and magic power.)
Morph is almost useless early in the game, but later, when it lasts longer than a round or two, it becomes more useful.
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LOCKE

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Locke is basically an average character in the game. His strength, magic, etc. are all satisfactory, but he is relatively fast. Aside from the obvious assets, there is no reason to work on his "levelage". (I did when I played, but that's only because I like him. Lucky Locke; Edgar's jealous!) However, his "Steal" skill is a great GP-saver when you're low on items, and allows you to cheaply acquire weapons, armor, and relics later in the game.

SKILL:Steal (Locke steals an item from an enemy. With the "Thief Glove," he'll fight as well as steal.)
Stealing won't directly help you defeat enemies, but it is useful for saving GP and can give you a second chance at items you've missed. (Especially in Kefka's tower.)
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EDGAR

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Edgar's main asset is his ability to use tools. Tools never run out, so you would be a fool to fight normally when his "Drill" would deal twice the damage. Although he's a bit on the slow side and his magic power isn't the best, he is otherwise average in stats, making him a pretty good character.

SKILL:Tools (Edgar uses a wide variety of tools with different effects.)
Tools is a great skill, which makes Edgar's weapons almost obselete. Buy them when you can, and don't pass up the "Chainsaw" in Zozo: it's in the building with the big clock. (Clue: the thieves all lie, so talk to them then use the process of elimination to figure out the time.)
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SABIN

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sabin is one of the most powerful characters. His strength is excellent, and his speed is better than average. Although he can't wear heavy armor, his defense is good enough to almost make up for it. His "Blitz" skills vary in usefullness; "Air Blade" and "Bum Rush" are the best.

SKILL:Blitz (Sabin uses a wide variety of blitzes with different effects.)
Blitz is similar to the Edgar's "Tools" skill, except for the added annoyance of having to press the right buttons before each attack. (My rating doesn't reflect this; I'm pretending your skill at pressing buttons is flawless.) If you don't pay attention you're likely to waste his turn.
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CELES

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Celes is very good. Like Terra, she begins with magic. Celes' magic power ranks third, after Relm and Terra. Added to this is the fact that she is relatively strong and has no real weaknesses, even if her skill isn't too great. If you get her level up to the 90's and teach her all the useful magic spells, she's nearly unbeatable. (My Celes beat the final enemy alone; I tried it by killing off all my other characters before the fight. Killing the others took me longer than the whole battle took Celes!)

SKILL:Runic (Celes neutralizes any spells cast by an enemy and absorbs them as MP.)
Runic is not a very useful skill, unless your enemy is basically a magic-user. It can also only be used when Celes is equipped with a sword. You shouldn't waste her turn with it unless she is low on MP or the enemy usually casts spells.
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SHADOW

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Shadow is a very good character, but he's expensive. Not only do you have to pay to use him during the first part of the game, you have to buy shurikens and other throwing weapons for him to use. He has three assets: speed, evade and Interceptor. He is one of the faster characters in the game, and Interceptor is possibly the strongest, at least near the beginning. Interceptor serves as a counterattack; he will not fight unless Shadow is attacked. In addition to Shadow's naturally high evade, Interceptor will sometimes even take damage for Shadow, resulting in a final evade percentage that could easily be above 50.

SKILL:Throw (Shadow throws an item, dealing damage to an enemy but permanently losing the item.)
Throw is not the most useful of skills; you're better off equipping Shadow with a good weapon and forcing him to fight. However, shurikens are a good buy; they're cheap and deal more damage than a normal attack. If you can collect enough Imp Halbreds to throw, they're excellent- they deal 9999 damage!
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CYAN

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Cyan is very strong, possibly the strongest character, but he has a major weakness: he's SLOW! He is past his prime and all, but that's not a good enough excuse for me. His magic power is also relatively weak, but his defense is very good, especially with the ability to wear the heaviest armor. If you use an Esper to add speed with each level, he should become a very good character near the end of the game.

SKILL:Swordtech (Cyan uses various attacks on enemies.)
The disatvantage of Swordtech is the charge-up time (making him even slower), but the result is a powerful attack on an enemy. You can't buy Swordtechs; you'll have to wait for Cyan to learn them.
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GAU

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Gau has the major weakness of being uncontrollable during a Rage. This can be fatal on a major enemy if Gau is the only character left alive. If you must still insist on using Gau, teach him magic. His magic is pretty good, the best after the natural magic users. Start teaching him early, and by the end of the game you'll have another powerful magic-user, and avoid the annoyance of the unpredictable Rage.

SKILL:Rage/Leap (Rage allows Gau to use an enemy's attacks; Leap teaches him the skills of an enemy.)
Rage is good on regular enemies, but can be your downfall while fighting a main enemy, for you won't be able to control him after selecting a Rage attack.
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SETZER

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Setzer is arguably one of the worst characters. His status is average at best, and his skill is too unpredictable to be useful. If you are lucky at the slots, he can be powerful, but if not, your party's HP is only restored a very meager amount.

SKILL:Slots (Setzer's slots have various effets; one combination kills both you and the enemies!)
Slots is a highly unpredictable skill. There is a timing strategy to assure a useful attack, but one mistake and you've wasted Setzer's turn on a useless Lagomorph.
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STRAGO

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Strago has relatively good magic power, but he is weak, slow, and has low defense. Not the best of characters. In order to make his Lore skill useful, you must have Strago in your fighting party often so that he can learn many Lore spells.

SKILL:Lore (Strago learn's an enemy's spell and uses it like a magic spell.)
The usefulness of Lore depends on the number of Lore spells Strago has learned; the more, the better. "Grand Train" and "Pearl Wind" are especially useful.
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RELM

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
At a first glance, Relm seems practically useless; she is weak and her Sketch skill isn't very useful. However, if you look at her status, you'll notice she has quite possibly the best magic power of anyone in the game. Instead of wasting time with "Sketch" (Although if you turn it into "Control" with a particular relic found late in the game, it is significantly better), teach Relm many magic spells, and work on her levels. It will pay off.

SKILL:Sketch (Relm sketches an enemy and attacks it with its own skill.)
Sketch isn't a very useful skill; try to turn it into "Control" as soon as possible. (Which isn't very soon, since you can't do it until late in the game.)
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MOG

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Mog's status is basically average; his defense is pretty good, better than you'd expect from such a little creature. (Don't tell him I called him that!) His Dance skill can be useful, but Mog often stumbles (fails to dance) and after dancing, you can't control him for the rest of the battle. Mog can also wear the Snow Muffler, the best armor in the game.

SKILL:Dance (Mog uses a wide variety of attacks with different effects. Each dance has a limited group of effects randomly chosen. Once Mog dances, you can't control him for the rest of the battle.)
Dancing can be useful, but it isn't recommended for main enemies, since you can't control Mog while he's dancing.
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GOGO

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Gogo is a great character in that he can use any skill (That the other characters have learned, that is!) He can also Mime an ally's attacks without the consequences of using MP or losing a thrown item. Although his strength, agility, etc. is relatively poor, his skills are good enough that it is worth it to spend the time "experiencing" him.

SKILL:Mime (Gogo mimes the last ally's attack.)
Mime can be very useful; it makes it possible for Gogo to use magic without using MP, or throw an item without losing the item. If you press "X" to skip certain characters, you can arrange it so that Gogo's turn is not wasted miming a normal attack.
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UMARO

Lina's Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Umaro is very strong and fast, but you can't control him or equip him with anything other than relics. His attacks are very limited- he only has fight, blizzard, and rage. However, he doesn't lose that much from this, since he's stronger than anyone else.

SKILL:None (Umaro has no real skill- he does what he wants. You can add abilities by equipping the Rage Ring and Blizzard Orb relics.)
Be sure to find the Rage Ring and Blizzard Orb, but be sure to unequip the Blizzard Orb when fighting an enemy that could be strong against ice-elemantal attacks. (Umaro is too stupid to realize he shouldn't use it.) However, the Rage Ring should be equipped at all times.
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