yeah i used estelle, joshua, tio, C in-front and vita, claire, mcburn in the back. i beat the finale boss so quickly that it only attacked twice as estelle just broke it and dealt insane damage to it while every else also dealt insane damage to it. the game is not hard on the hardest difficulty either.
I would never sleep on Machias, so I knew he would end up on God Tier. Understand why people don't like him as a character but I think they forget he was a kid who held on to his hate for so long he didn't know what to do with it. And people kind of expect him to just get over it. I personally find his cranky/hot-headed nature refreshing, why does the series expect me to believe every teenager/young adult has a calm temperament. I certainly wasn't. Tangent aside, I found myself using him and Gauis more this game and never looked back. Loved the breakdown of each character!
@@AzaliFinrandi true was hoping to see his justice punch in full hd. Or even some banter between him and machias. But to be fair machias was he's successor
Lloyd insanely underrated here. He has no delay on bp generation craft so you can keep spamming it and pairing with accelerate like from renne or claire and bursts to never give the enemy a turn.
Fie was my girl. No one could touch her and she was contantly counter-attacking and hitting criticals. Linked with Rean they were unstoppable. That's what i love about these games. There are so many great characters and you can really make a party out of your personal faves and do just fine.
Rixia Fie Joshua and Altina can cheese any over leveled boss(put them backline cz front members are not likely to survive while over leveled on Abyss mode, best option is probably to give in those who on front . also, put the useful orders to Tag-along cz dead members cannot cast their orders😂)
This actually opened my eyes to a few party members I just never got around to investing much in (Gaius, Elie) and reaffirmed my suspicions of certain characters sucktitude (Swin, Celine, Elise). Well made list~...
Honestly Rean is #1 any day for me. Once you have him and McBurn you are unstoppable. My final party was Rean, Rixia, Arios, and McBurn with Elie and Vita (for her brave order) and I steamrolled the entire TRC up to the end.
But the full 8 BP for Mcburns order even at lv 250 on VERY easy mode is PURE CRAP BECAUSE of its cost that and he's the FINAL party member I had join IN the TRC itself IN the post game.
As proof that anyone can be broken in this game I was using Rean, McBurn, Celine, and Fie as my main comp for the post game and Celine was putting out probably 50% of my overall damage all on her own due very high speed and low casting delay combined with Pandora primary and Mercurius secondary. I also had her aura accessory which made it so even if I exclusively used her as a BP farm she would never run out of CP.
I never got why people think sara is better than fie at evasion tanking. Sara needs to waste 2 turns running up to the enemies and then self buffing insight while having a lower base speed. Fie's fast naturally so she can generally go and jump right into the enemy party before they move and start tanking right away. Combine that with most battles being over after the enemies move once, I just dont see how sara is better since her setup prevents her from being able to "tank" as many hits.
It’s usually because of her self-buff(which grants 50% more Evade), and higher base strength. She also has the better aoe crafts than Fie. Not to mention, she’s a pretty decent arts user. Ultimately, I think it’s more about her great utility on top of her great evade tanking. Fie definitely beats her in speed, but lacks utility. Her other great strat is being a stealth user, but you can’t mix stealth with evade tanking. Usually if I have to waste turns prepping, I try to give the characters Chrono Burst which helps a lot.
@@victormeng1952 Not sure I agree with this in Fie's case as her speed is so high that she can use a self buff and attack twice before most enemies even get a turn meaning her stealth wouldn't be active when the enemies activate anyway. Also evasion tanking doesn't protect against 100% accurate S-Crafts but you can predict when those are coming and stealth for to avoid them allowing you to evasion tank everything else.
My final team ended up being: -Rean with Kusanagi(sometimes Brigid if I need more cp) /Gungir -Rixia with Gungir/Kusanagi -Sarah with Aigis/Sirius -Renne with Pandora/Mercurius(although I wish that I’d pick Crow for his great speed and self-buff)
You seem to have GRAVELY underestimated how good artes are. You’re list is possibly accurate on lower difficulties (i wouldn't know because i played on nightmare my first run). On higher difficulties, artes are so good you’re straight up throwing by not using them. Even mediocre mages can begin to compete with McBurn. Physical characters have higher damage caps, but artes users are able to stack cast and bell quartz to cast like ten things in the time it takes a physical unit to move twice. At the endgame level EP isn't even a concern because you’ll just kill the opponent before you run out. Early game, crafts are good, but lategame theres no reason to spam crafts. You can make crafts work though, by building around stealth, another mechanic you heavily underrated. If you can give yourself stealth youve bascially just hit top tier automatically, except for maybe Altina. You can just load up on CP recovery accessories and live forever and spam crits. The high cost on Joshua doesn't matter by endgame where all your units are able to recover about 10 cp passively per turn and can cast artes to get more turns.
Nope even at lv 250 on Nightmare/Abyss mode I had spell damage NEVER outdamage PHYSICAL s crafts heck even on VERY EASY MODE LV 250 I still didn't have a SINGLE spell outdamage a 700,000 to 1 million PHYSICAL damage s craft at all either.
@@veghesther3204 That's not even addressing what I said, which is that you can spam artes out so fast and hard. Like sure your s craft outdamaged the art, but oops you're out of CP entirely, while i'm able to spam out 10 artes in the time it takes to move again because S crafts have a lot of self delay on them. Like wow you did big numbers that's so cool but I just did 5x as much damage because I value consistency instead of blowing my load on a super move. Also in what scenario are you ever reaching level 250?? You would need to do crazy grinding to reach that. Comparing damage at level 250 literally doesn't even matter because at that point you can win with anything. Even if you are level 250 though, artes still outdamage lol. Like have you ever played Fire Emblem and used astra? The 5 weaker hits are 2.5x stronger overall. Thats what slow and steady with artes does. You aren't even slow because you can just buff with Wazys order and then switch to a damage buff order and kill everything instantly anyways.
I won't attempt Nightmare mode without lv 250 party members AND 99 Zeram Powders and 99 Zeram Poweders to spam s crafts 3x a turn EVERY turn so spell damage at lv 250 is still pure crap. Besides you HAVE to lv up all 51 TO lv 250 theirs a in game TRC achievement for that and I'll never attempt Nightmare mode at ANY lv that is NOT lv 250 at all. the FULL 99 Zeram Powders and Capsules used is exactly why Emma and heavenly gift is pure crap.
@veghesther3204 but why does that even matter. Like wow you grinded to the max level and spammed the most broken item in the game that you also grinded for. Who gives a shit. I played the game on Nightmare with a fresh save. I actually engaged with the mechanics instead of bashing my head against a wall grinding like a retard. And again, at level 250, every single strategy wins because you have hyperinflated stats and you also just spammed the most overpowered item (that's in short supply if you don't grind for no reason) And like yeah if you grinded for an achievement then like sure whatever but that doesn't make crafts better just because you're bad at the game and need to grind just to play a difficulty level that's just "kinda challenging" on a fresh save
@@veghesther3204 So basically you'll only play on nightmare if you've grinded so much you might as well be playing on easy anyway... wow. Very impressive...
I’ll be honest, I’m not much of a Min/Maxer in my RPGs. The closest I get is never *ever* trading my Sepith away for money because I want *all* the upgrades. That said, I cannot wait to get through the rest of this series for the express purpose of going absolutely fucking insane over all the options here. Great video! Keep up the good work!
For me I use Rean, Rixia, Alisa and Lloyd since Alisa has CP support so that I don’t have to worry about CP costs when it comes to using Spirit Unification and or other self buffs on other characters, Laura as my back up heavy hitter, Emma being the lifesaver, along with Alfin.
Altina is a fave of mine to build as a nuke. Stealth grants crits to her arts and with the right setup she can deal hundreds thousands of damage with no risk of being stoped(unless someone can hit her in her stealth). I usually run pandora with sub master quartz that either gives her ep regen on arts cast or a crit damage buff one if ep sustain isnt a issue(quick kill or constand low cost arts)
I always have 1 healer, 1 support, and 2 damage dealers. This has always helped me. I don't really agree with the placement of Swin, though. He's great when you have him obviously linked with Nadia.
Awesome list. Love your channel. However my only critique on this list would move Juna up for the same reasons as Machias. If you have both of the on the same team with Sarah either on the team or in reserve you have endless Turn Order control. You can wipe the floor in even the toughest post-game battles because the opponents don't even get turns.
Thanks for the feedback! I guess I’d argue that both on one team is overkill. I think you could afford to be more offensive and end battles in fewer cycles. But thats the awesome part of the game. There are dozens of killer strats.
i think this list does not value the speed stat enough. some chars like laura didnt seem that useful to me because of that. but alisa was my magical girl 😁juna should also be toptier for her versatility
Id only quibble over a few characters being up or down a tier nothing too egregious. I didnt endlessly grind to make everyone to the busted busted tier, so I put a lot more value into character who can be "easily busted" without inhibiting their main appeal. Char's that would spike in my personal chart would be Renne, Emma, Fie. Fie was my interrupter, evade tank , CP battery (on follow up/counters), BP battery (thanks to raw speed), a plague unit, and barely needs gear to do any of that, which is great when you arent farming every godly piece for every char. Renne just is the easiest to get to top tier DPS in the game and her physical craft is just such a great mob clear ability before you get to the ability to infinite cast spells. She doesnt require link abilities from anyone else or much self CP regen to do exactly what you want out of her character. I used her over Crow and Vita personally. Emma- people talk about how great crescent moon is, and rightfully so but also forget that her order can negate entire bosses, and her S craft can negate the most dangerous parts of many fights. Her analyze is a great boss shredder for physical units as it offers def/adf down and unbalance, so Towa's is superior for mage specific teams while Emma's is better for phys teams. Llyod would actually drop for me, as he always felt like a paper tiger, with plenty of other units naturally doing his role more effectively of tank/suction/plague (Rixia and Sharon are both just straight up better at it). Outside of his MC orders, I really didnt feel like his kit was that impactful on the game (especially compared to Rean or C). Toval would also drop as he is locked to the corridor and his kit is as exciting as a nursing home. He felt as useful as Celine. I might also drop McBurn, not because he isnt the best character in the game. Its because you get him so late that everyone else can be broken too. He stands above, but does it matter if a home run goes 400ft vs 600ft? Its damn impressive, but doesnt change the result.
Great video! I am trying to finish CS IV to jump to reverie. With so many characters is difficult try one by one. I higly recomend you Sakura Taisen (1997) the original from sega saturn, I think you will enjoy the game
I finished this game a few months ago and had tons of fun with the cast. I haven't done the endgame corridor yet and good thing too as this tier will help me form my team. Well I'm surprised most of my favorite characters are high in the list like Rixia, Sara and Machias and Lloyd. I can't decide the other 4 to balance out my team hahahaha.
Though this video would be much longer. I swear I'd play this game if it weren't for all the lore you'd need to know to understand the story. Great list either way.
This is an outstanding list and I agree with the vast majority of your placement! I would only place Emma higher (a LOT higher) because in addition to being an outstanding mage, her support crafts, especially her S craft just solve encounters on its own. Lack of self buffs is a point well taken, but food and the like can usually gap that. There's just no substitute for Grail Sphere 2.0 in my book.
Disagree on this. Stealth is insanely broken as it guarantees crit so the character can equip the best damage damage quartz and 2 crit damage M quartz. Best party is Rean for spirit unification / helix, Rixia for 2x stealth, Fie 2x stealth, Sarah as evade tank. Rixia, Fie and Joshua once he gets his accessories spam insane guaranteed crit damage while being invincible. You will wipe out most battles in a few turns.
@@locloudanerpg Yes, those 3 with Rean are the best provided they have the best quartz and accessories which requires a lot of u material grinding. Altina is also insanely good with stealth + magic. Rean with unification + gale + valhalla or emblem + ult will 1 shot any random encounter and rixia + fie with 2 turns of stealth + best crafts will kill nearly any boss.
Lol poor Swin, I used him alot in the game, given that apart from the the Abyss difficulty the game is not absurdly hard so using him is not that bad, heck he is probably the character that I had the most fun playing given his gimmick, other than that I used Estelle alot too, stack her with a bunch of attack accessories and buffs she can deal tons of damage with her crafts
I almost maxed out every chars here and here is some of my insights. CoolDown - time to get his turn. Ange has the strongest physical non S-craft ability (Zero Impact). Paired with fast heroes she is a beast. Fie also has one of the strongest and spamable non S-craft abilities. Lara is just too slow cd wise. McBurn is a good caster. Ability wise tho he is super slow having one of the largest cool down due to his abilities. Well cd can be manipulated using chrono burst and Orders.
Finally got around to watching this, so I think I’ll go ahead and make some predictions for the Daybreak video, as I have already played both it and its sequel. Be warned, though, as this comment contains gameplay spoilers. Also, I’m not the best at these games, so I may end up getting this very wrong. Van strikes me as a Top/God Tier simply because when he has access to Take the Grendel in some battles, which is a great damage dealer due to being able to attack multiple times in a turn. When he doesn’t have access to that, he’s still the most reliable tank until Chapter 5. On the other end of the spectrum is Kincaid, who joins for one dungeon and has no S-Craft until the sequel. Lastly, I’d like to talk about Judith. While she’s the penultimate member of the core party to join, she has arguably the best self-buff in the game and pretty decently balanced stats, so I’m expecting her to be Top Tier.
Honestly, the game is not that difficult so I based my team mostly on how much I liked them as characters. Because of that, I never used Elise, Alfin, Musse, Altina,Victor, Angelica, George, Towa, or Claire unless the game forced me.
Is this list for Abyss difficulty, because if it is, I have some thoughts xD.... On abyss, crafts can't *possibly* keep up with arts, with exactly one exception. because dealing damage is irrelevant on abyss. The only thing that matters is breaking the gameplay to counteract the *massive* speed buff every enemy in the game gets on abyss. (I think it's 4x) There isn't really a way to meaningfully reduce craft delay, so it's nearly impossible to play craft builds as your primary option (s-crafts excluded) on Abyss, unless you think you can win when your enemy takes four turns for every one turn your characters take. Later in the game it's probably possible with a speed casting arts supporter to cp battery and liberal use of invulnerability brave orders (and a BP battery to keep them alive)... but that's... a lot worse and more difficult than the best two abyss strategies - speed casting and Gaius (yes, just Gauis)... Gauis is probably the *best* strategy, because it's the only one that can win the battle consistently with your enemies acting a maximum of 1 time, since 2-3 speed casters casting heat up will easily replenish Gauis's CP before the absolute delay fades, so you only have to survive a single hit (and there are plenty of ways to make that consistent). Casters can also just spam arts and do okay, since you can reduce arts delay enough to compete favorably with the ridiculous speed buff on abyss. Anything else requires some real fine-tuning to work (though I find for a lot of minibosses, combining the revive master quartz with strength stacking and then just s-crafting 16 times will usually get the job done)... Anyways, creating a tier list for abyss is kinda pointless though because of how warped the gameplay becomes when enemies all have 4x speed. For NIghtmare and below, there's a lot more flexibility with how you can play, and there I could see crafts outscaling arts damage in the late game xD. And for most people, I do recommend playing on Nightmare and below. Unless your achievement hunting, abyss kinda isn't fun because it *forces* you to fundamentally break the mechanics of the game.
its very nerdy doing this because everyone obviously works well and more or less can be made to function pretty similarly, but if I made a list like this i would try to focus in on what truly unique assets each character is bringing. for example you gloss over the characters you dont think are very good, like millium. But if i were talking about millium i would say something like: "millium is the only unit in the game with a S+ break S-craft that hits all range". Estelle has one also, but hers only hits individual targets. For this reason, millium has a interesting and potentially synergetic niche that would rank her highly for me. Kurt is another example of a character I would rate highly, because his sword dance move is the cheapest self buff and more importantly it moves the turn order allowing you to bypass the chrono burst nerf in this game and move infinitely with the right setup. This again for example is not a niche every character has, and even amongst rean, mcburn, and crow, Kurt's self buff turn advance move is the cheapest. With my criteria in mind - the best units in the game to me would be Lloyd, Kurt, Celine, Gaius, Rean, and McBurn among others. The characters who lacked a strong niche or identity would be like George, Noel, Elise, Lechter, etc, so these would be the types of people I would alternatively rank at the bottom.
I've only played the series Cold Steel and only the first 2 parts on Vita. This series certainly has a ton of characters. How does one even begin to decide on a team?
I remember having an end party of Rean, Crow, Vita, and Rixia/Arios. Chevalier builds on the stealth gang results in some rather nonsensical damage and combined with a crit damage up, good lord. I also ended up abusing Gaius on the true final boss and to my shock, mans can actually AT stun the last boss. Renne's def my second favorite caster. Can't believe the girl's top tier mage for two whole games but here we are lol. Gotta say upon replaying CS3/CS4 I really did sleep on Mach man. Guy's pretty solid as a party member with the right setups to make dread breaker do some work along with shuffling the turns around with his burst drive.
Even on VERY easy mode lv 250 Rean and C get the highest damage out of their s crafts around 700,0000 damage to 1 to 2 million if critical hits trigger.
i finished the game yesterday my party for the most part was luke controlled tear and jade i had fun as luke despite what everyone else says tear was my healer and jade because he’s my favorite character the last slot i swapped between the other three
short answer Fie, long answer Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie
I think my team on abyss mode endgame was like mcburn, crow, lloyd, Rean. Lloyd was the BP tank and spammed burning heart, Rean was my crit machine with his postgame aura buff which is insane so it can keep up with artes pretty well, Mcburn was the total carry, Crow just wailed out arte after arte and supported iirc. I tried loads of characters and i don't agree with this tierlist even though anyone can work but looking objective artes are slightly better than crafts even in Reverie. Hope you like artes teams cause thats all Daybreak will truly be and the worth of characters is how well they can at least be a light caster. RPG's love mages way too much. The gap is too big in almost every game you play. Its getting tiresome seeing mages be the most broken characters in a majority of RPG's nowadays.
Man, I thought Musse was an awesome caster. Felt top tier to me. Maybe I just built her in a way that made her better than the rest of my team. Otherwise my non-optimal play experience aligns with this list.
My final team Rean with brigrid + minatouras with high speed and break damage with decent evasion Alitna marcicus + gunnir arts coverage Crow gunnir + tempest basically always crt build Fie = Sirius + gunnir evasion dps dealer imo she is better evasion tank then sera Juna for her excavator craft moebius + any other mq (just there for escaping from bad situation) Emma = her default mq + Titania High arts dps Renne = Titania + Vega Rufus default mq + Vega had him for his 2nd brave order Tagalong = Angelica and lecter I found Claire, lapis, not as good as swim who you put in trash tier his gimmick is really good well atleast in the main story Also rean a better arios imo the damage from arios twin gale is to low in comparison to rean and cp is absolutely not a problem in this Self buff skill are not that useful when brave order give a lot 9f buffs like Emma for caster and mahicas for physical attackers unless they give some additional effects
Alright, I'd like to defend Swin here, because, as someone who has used him for most of my time in the TRC (True Reverie Corridor) (both in NG Abyss and NG+ +100 Level Abyss), I have played around with his moveset extensively. This is my breakdown of Swin's abilities based on the criteria in the video, speaking on Abyss difficulty (mainly for +100 Level TRC, but I have used this setup on a lower scale - without stupid lost art stats - in NG Abyss' TRC). This will be very long as I am simply stating everything I have learned about Swin throughout my time playing Trails into Reverie, and why I do not believe that he is the worst character in the game. The language I use for stat changes is +1, +2 and +3, which represent S, M and L increases respectively. Therefore, if a move gives STR-L boost, I would say that it gives a +3 STR boost. NOTE: When I use the term 'best' (or similar), it is my personal opinion. However, as mentioned earlier, I have invested a lot of time into Swin, and I'd like to believe that I know what his optimal setup is by now, in terms of quartz and equipment. Criteria: Availability - Not an issue: Act 1 onward, Act 3 for TRC Quartz - This was slightly ambiguous to me. You said characters are judged on "innate abilities" (1:05), then that the "best possible quartz setup" was used (1:13). This is confusing and I will act on the assumption that Swin has *his* best quartz setup (Mentioned in quartz section). Equipment - Difficult to understand, as character-specific equipment was mentioned, but the way equipment slots were handled was difficult to understand for me. Assuming that you meant it in a similar manner to quartz, I'm giving Swin the best equipment setup of Nimble Halo and Solomon Garb (He'll need his sub-MQ (sub-master quartz) slot later, so I'm not using Dire Gladiator Belt for CP, as then I'd have to use Talisman sub-MQ for status immunity. Grail Locket Ur does not prevent stat down and so is redundant.) Magic - Since the only art Swin should ever cast is Chrono Burst, I have nothing to say about arts power. Damage Types - Burst Damage: Good (Mark EX--->S-Break with +3 STR), Sustained Damage: Good (Mark EX--->Revelation EX with +3 STR), Break Damage: Decent (Revelation EX has A break rating) Support - Swin's proficiency in a supporting role is akin to his ability to take a full powered, critical hit, ATS +3 Melville Ray. In other words, Swin is not a supporter at all. Roles - I have a lot to say on this too, so it is discussed later. Before I respond to your placement of Swin, I'd like to give an overview of his character, as well as how I've used him. (Continued in replies)
OVERVIEW --------------------------------- First, I'd like to state what 'marking' actually is, to be able to use a clear definition, as the video did not clearly state it. Marking is a status condition which makes the next attack/craft by Swin deal a critical hit, removing the mark at the same time. Swin's attacking crafts can all cause the mark status condition at varying chances, which are mentioned in the moveset section. His normal attack can also cause mark at 50% chance, while arts cannot afflict or destroy marks at all. Enhance status on bosses and formidable enemies give immunity to mark. Second, his stats: To be fair, they aren't good. His STR is subpar for an attacker, but that can be made up for in setup (Equipment/Quartz). His ATS is awful, but he shouldn't be used as an arts attacker, so that doesn't matter too much (This is also because arts do not afflict or destroy marks). DEF is decent for a sole attacker and ADF is bad. Therefore, Swin's only 'good' stat is his SPD, though it falls short of really fast characters such as Fie, Arios and Duvalie. Max HP is decent, and while EP isn't great, he only needs one art so as long as he is kept above 400 EP (Chrono Burst EP cost) at all times, there is no issue. He also has 5% base evasion, which is a bonus. Third, his moveset (Arts and Crafts): For arts, getting Chrono Burst is not difficult, as my quartz setup includes a Time MQ. No other arts are needed. For crafts, Swin has three, and one S-Craft. Mark EX is a cheap (20 CP) craft with low power, break damage and unbalance chance (C/D/D) and a S+ set area of effect. However, its main use is marking enemies (4 turns, 100% chance), which is the entire purpose of my setup. Revelation EX is interesting. It costs 60 CP, is single-target (bad), and has S+ power, A break and D unbalance (That unbalance chance is inconsequential as hitting marked enemies causes a critical hit), while having a 60% chance to afflict the enemy with mark status. While this looks quite bad for such an expensive move, the critical hits from marking combined with Revelation EX's S+ power boost damage quite substantially, making the overall DPT (Damage per turn) good, rather than underwhelming. (This is considering that he is only able to use critical hit Revelation EX every other turn.) Zoom Zone 2 is very good, with only one big drawback. It is a self-buff which costs 20 CP and gives STR/SPD +2, as well as CP +25 per turn, all for 4 turns. This basically gives Swin infinite CP. The move also has 500 delay, while many other self-buff moves have 1000 delay. The only issue is that it only gives a +2 boost, not +3, which is bad, but he can often use it twice in quick succession at the start of a battle to get to +3 STR/SPD. Swin's S-Craft is Three of Swords A, which has 4S+ power and B+ break with LL Set area of effect, which, while quite low for an S-Craft in Trails into Reverie, is also affected by marking. This allows the move to be a guaranteed critical hit at 200 CP (Zoom Zone can restore CP directly after Mark EX, so Mark EX--->S-Break is quite viable for burst damage). Fourth, his other abilities (Brave Order and Link Abilities): For Brave Order, Shadow Step (+1 STR/MOV for 2 turns, -50% delay for 6 turns) is quite useful, though the MOV boost is very strange. It helps with Zoom Zone 2 at the start of battles and also with Three of Swords A Delay (Usually after Mark EX--->S-Break). For Link Abilities, Protective Wall (90% damage reduction to Swin and link partner takes no damage, random activation) can be helpful at times, but the better ability is Arts Support 2 (+50% arts damage to link partner, random activation), which allows Swin to serve a purpose in a casting team. Fifth, his roles: According to roles mentioned at 2:01, I think Swin does alright. Support: Obviously not, there is nothing about Swin that suggests or promotes support in any way. DPS: Swin's DPS is great with Mark EX--->Revelation EX. Breaker: Decent with Revelation EX, but not amazing. BP Battery: Critical Revelation EX always unbalances, but Mark EX only has D unbalance rating, so overall his BP potential is alright. CP Battery: He can sustain himself with Zoom Zone 2, but nobody else. Tank: Swin should not be played defensively, so therefore he does not fit this role. Debuffer/Plaguer: This comes under support, so he is weak here. SETUP --------------------------------- In general, I use Swin as a strong, fast physical attacker where his marking mechanic causes critical hits on Revelation EX and Three of Swords A, while Zoom Zone 2 and Nimble Halo keep his CP up, which allows him to deal sustained damage (Mark EX--->Revelation EX) and high burst damage (Mark EX--->S-Break). Equipment: His weapon is obviously Claustrum's Veil (3 Black Zemurian Ore) for pure strength (2495 STR and 2% critical rate). Armour is Blue Parka IV for STR and SPD, while shoes are Stealth Boots IV for STR and evasion. Accessories are Nimble Halo for CP regeneration and STR/SPD, as well as Solomon Garb for status/stat down immunity and the STR/SPD boost. Master Quartz: Swin's MQs are the reason this setup has any damage output, as his Main MQ is Kusanagi, while his sub-MQ is Gungnir. Both of these boost critical damage by 120% at level 15, and Kusanagi gives S Tier STR/SPD boosts (240 and 25 respectively). Kusanagi is also in the main slot, to give the evasion boost, while Gungnir's third ability only increases arts critical rate, which is useless for Swin. Gungnir also gives Swin Chrono Burst for free, so he will not need any quartz to give him arts directly. Quartz: Swin has two Time slots, and one Earth slot. Time slots use Melville Arc and Melville Ray, which increase STR by 750 and SPD/evasion by 35(%) when combined. The Earth slot is quite flexible, but my preference is Dazzling Rakan Gem to increase STR/break damage by 100(%). The other 4 slots should contain quartz to increase STR and SPD. For me, they were Dazzling Carnelia Gem (400 STR), Lion King (300 STR), True Rage (15% evasion, allows counters to be boosted criticals) and Dazzling Nohval Gem (35 SPD). Overall, the reason that I like Swin as an attacker is because he can abuse boosted critical damage with no risk (Low HP is not required like when using Tempest MQ) and without compromising his STR/SPD (He doesn't need to use quartz or equipment slots for a consistent critical rate as marks guarantee critical hits). RESPONSE --------------------------------- This is the part where I address the video, and the creator's comments regarding Swin. The quotes are what was said in the video: "Swin's character-specific ability is broken, and not in a good way" - What makes it so bad? Personally, I see a method where guaranteed critical hits can be dealt to every enemy in the game, with no true drawbacks to doing so in terms of attacking. Marks last long enough to warrant using, and are consistent to apply due to Mark EX's 100% chance. "Marking enemies for crits (critical hits) ends up being an absolute waste of time" - This is just a blanket statement, which is not explained whatsoever. Therefore, I am going to ask: Why is marking a waste of time? I've given a lot of reasons to use marking in this comment, so, if anyone responds to this comment, please address what makes my reasons redundant. "He is actually better as a subpar caster" - No, he is not. His ATS is completely terrible and his marking mechanic allows him to use specific setups very effectively (e.g. Kusanagi/Gungnir MQ), which far outclasses his (in)ability to cast arts for damage. CONCLUSION --------------------------------- To conclude, I want to make it clear that I don't think that Swin is some incredible Top/God Tier character. I think he is Low Mid Tier at best. There are some other comments made in the video which I take issue with, but I mainly wanted to address Swin's placement here. I'd love to have a discussion in the replies about Swin, or the other statements if anyone wants me to address those, as I firmly believe that he is better than number 51.
@@harrygx708 happy to chat as you spent a lot of time on this. Honestly you make good points for how to best use him but my question is less about Swin and more about everyone else. In your opinion who are all worse than Swin and why? Because I think you could make a lot of those same arguments for many on the lower tiers.
@@locloudanerpg Thanks for replying. I think I'd initially planned to compare Swin to other characters, but as I wrote the original comments over several different sessions, and I must have ended up forgetting by the time I'd finished talking about Swin himself. I'm currently creating a response comparing Swin to the Low Tiers (and Celine), but it may be a few days. Have a nice day. :)
@@locloudanerpg Firstly, I edited my first response’s conclusion to remove ‘Upper Mid Tier’, as while I believe Swin is better than bottom tier, upper mid tier was a massive stretch. I also removed the DPS/DPT distinction, as it really doesn’t matter. To avoid the insane length of my previous comments (Note after finishing: It's still extremely long.) , I'll only compare Swin to each of the low tiers (and Celine, who I will address last) here: NOTE: 'CSA' refers to character-specific accessories, and for this comment, each characters' unique aura/halo accessories. Also, I might miss 2/3/4 in crafts and link abilities, I always mean the highest level of the respective craft/link ability for the character. Part One - Swin vs Supporters/Plaguers ------------------------------------------------ Elise: Technically, Elise could also be considered under 'EP attackers’, but her ATS isn't high enough to warrant using arts for me, so she's here instead. Elise is mainly a support character and her crafts reflect that. Holy Squall 2 is probably her best move, as it is a strong heal which removes status/stat down (Characters shouldn't be getting statused in TRC anyway, playing without status immunity is very dangerous in Abyss' TRC). Pure Serenity is a horrific buff, which is far outclassed by Zoom Zone 2, and Swallow Tail 2 is the most useless attack in the game, in my opinion, as it does nothing special (100% impede, which can be covered by Sevenfold Gem on any character) and is weak in all three categories (C+ power, C break, C unbalance). Dancing Petals is definitely better than Shadow Step due to the ability to turn any character into an evasion tank for only 2 BP. For link abilities, Auto-Tear 2 is better than Protective Wall while Auto-Charge 2 is worse than Arts Support 2. I think these reasons are sufficient to say Swin is better than Elise. Lechter: Like Elise, Lecther could be argued to belong under another label, this time ‘CP attackers’. However, his S-Craft (Rubrum Knight 2) and Leavateinn 2 fit the ‘plaguer’ role more nicely. Heat Up 2 provides 50 CP, but I would say that Zoom Zone 2 is better, as you get more CP (100), and over time (25x4) rather than in one go, which is often better (The SPD boost makes it better also). Spell Card is too random to be good. Laevateinn 2 is comparable to Revelation EX, as it is slightly weaker in power and break, but multi-target (extra unbalance doesn’t matter due to marking critical hits for Swin) with potential status infliction. Auto-charge 4 is good, but many casters can use Pixie/Titania to restore EP, so Arts Support 2 is better. Fool’s Vermillion is a good attacking order, and is comparable to Shadow Step in use, though I would say Fool’s Vermillion’s insight boost makes it slightly better. Rubrum Knight 2 is very random (e.g. deathblow, petrify and vanish are useless on bosses) desperately requires CP to function, and Lechter struggles to create it as it has to come from Heat Up and his CSA. Swin’s higher consistency (especially with effectiveness of S-Craft) and power make him better than Lechter in my opinion. Part Two - Swin vs CP Attackers ------------------------------------------------ George: The issue with George is that his high STR is paired with horrendous SPD, and no way to buff either stat. Conversely, Swin has Zoom Zone 2 and high SPD, so although his STR is lower than George's, he'll be able to deal more damage altogether. George's ATS is low, like Swin's so they are similar there. As BP batteries, Swin is better due to consistent critical hits. Swin can also fund his own CP while George has to rely on his CSA for CP. In terms of orders, Draupnir Guard is expensive, but can protect even when not on George's turn, and can give total immunity to certain bosses with magic absorption. In comparison, Swin's is more universally useful, but less specialised, for example: when an enemy is broken, Shadow Step can give the opportunity to maximise BP before the boss returns to normal. For link abilities, I'd gravitate towards Swin, as Arts Support 2 is better than Auto-Charge 2. In terms of defence, George definitely outclasses Swin, but he doesn't have any crafts that would support a defensive build (heal, buff etc.), except Detector-Sigma. Overall, Swin is more cohesive and has a clear offensive (critical) build with a SPD stat that supports it instead of hindering. Hence, I believe Swin is better than George. Ash: Ash’s problem is similar to George’s. That is, that he struggles to move quickly. He does have a self-buff, though it has 2000 AT delay and only raises STR for 2 turns (the CP+50 is good but it has to be renewed constantly). Hence, I believe Zoom Zone 2 is better. Dead Man’s Dart isn’t great on Ash, due to his subpar ATS (also, BLN down is only one turn). Reaper’s Whirlwind 3 costs far too much for what it does, as Ash needs high MOV to get in the middle of several enemies for only A+ damage, but it can cause deathblow/nightmare. Rumbling Smash 3 is decent, but it has the same MOV issue as Reaper’s Whirlwind 3, but it is more cost effective (B+/B/B for 30CP). The main comparison here though is Void Breaker EX to Revelation EX. As single moves, Void Breaker EX is certainly better, due to the absurd SS break rating and DEF -3 effect. However, in context, Revelation EX is more powerful due to Swin’s marking. This is compounded by the fact that Swin has to buff less frequently than Ash, and has a SPD buff, increasing DPS. S-Crafts are interesting, as Sinner’s Revelry 2 is really strong (comparable to critical Three of Swords A) and lowers all stats -2, but is single target, which makes Belial Raid 2 the better option for most battles (multi-enemy battles) as an S-Break. Belial Raid 2 is weaker than critical Three of Swords A, though. Therefore, I believe that Swin is better than Ash. Angelica: Comparing Swin and Angelica mostly relates to their crafts, as they are both attackers with Swin having higher SPD, and Angelica having higher STR. Laser Bullet 2 outclasses Mark EX, with its higher damage (A vs C), though it is more expensive. Zero Impact 2 is similar to Void Breaker EX on Ash, though here I think it is slightly better than Revelation EX as it has SS+ power. Zoom Zone 2 is better than Dragon Boost, due to its lower delay and CP recovery, as it allows Swin to sustain offense longer than Angelica, who has to rely on her CSA. Ebon Dragon is stronger than Shadow Step, and the insight is quite helpful. Swin’s link abilities are better than Angelica’s, as Arts Support 2 will often have more impact on a proficient caster than Angelica’s damaging abilities. With marking, Three of Swords A has higher damage than Dragon Kick 2, though Dragon Kick 2 can cause faint. Overall, the man reason I think Swin is better is that Angelica finds it difficult to get CP for her moves (CSA), while Swin finds it much easier (CSA and Zoom Zone 2). Victor: Both Swin and Victor lack versatility, but Victor’s STR is substantially higher, with the craft Supreme Radiant Wings which gives STR +3, HP recovery and Brandish. Swin, on the other hand, has a STR/SPD +2 boost and CP regeneration at lower delay, which I think is better. Victor’s highest power craft is A+ power, which is weak compared to critical Revelation EX. However, Supreme Radiant Cleaver is strong for only 30 CP cost (and gives SPD/MOV -3), while Supreme Radiant Spin has utility with its faint and suction. His order outdoes Swin’s, due to the 300% increase in break damage and maintenance of STR/ATS buffs for one turn. Similarly to Angelica, his link abilities fall short of Swin’s, due to their physical attacking nature. In terms of S-Breaks, I think Three of Swords A is better, because of its higher break rating and capacity to critical hit without fail because of marking, even though Divine Phoenix Slash has a high (200%) faint chance. Hence, I think Swin is better than Victor due to his more sustainable damage output and CP reserve, similar to Angelica. (Continued in reply)
Still haven't found a reason to use Crow outside of the game forcing him into the story. I never saw the appeal of his gameplay at all, he never sticked with me. 😅
I can't do Falcom games. They're just too anime, and I do like some anime. This video didn't change my opinion on this, but it was still a fun video nonetheless watching all the different over the top character designs.
You know, in spite of Machias being God Tier and being "better Juna", after 4 Cold Steel games of me going "nah, not gonna use Machias", I feel oddly compelled to still use her (or someone else) instead just to keep the personal joke going, lol.
@@locloudanerpg Yeah, when there's assassins, bracers, jaegers, witches, combat shells, 1 person armies, demon bloods, icy maidens, dominions, fiery redheads, and knightly tsunderes, "chess nerd with a shotgun", kinda doesn't seem as cool. Even his "I have 2 pistols" bit, Crow, Juna, Fie, and Noel have covered. Hell, Noel has a rocket launcher and a motorcycle, lol.
My best +loved party in the postgame= Rean Melee Toval+Emma = best OP arts casters (tovals unique item makes him the best caster with emma +the same unique item) and Fie/Lloyd support caster
This game is so good that I only end up using my favorite characters because anyone can be broken with the right quartz .
So did I. Reverie is easily in my top 5 RPGs.
Except Swin. Poor boy desparately needs a full rework if he reappears in future games.
yeah i used estelle, joshua, tio, C in-front and vita, claire, mcburn in the back. i beat the finale boss so quickly that it only attacked twice as estelle just broke it and dealt insane damage to it while every else also dealt insane damage to it. the game is not hard on the hardest difficulty either.
I would never sleep on Machias, so I knew he would end up on God Tier. Understand why people don't like him as a character but I think they forget he was a kid who held on to his hate for so long he didn't know what to do with it. And people kind of expect him to just get over it. I personally find his cranky/hot-headed nature refreshing, why does the series expect me to believe every teenager/young adult has a calm temperament. I certainly wasn't.
Tangent aside, I found myself using him and Gauis more this game and never looked back. Loved the breakdown of each character!
Dudley and machias are definitely my favorite characters
@@xneutralgodx Was so mad Dudley wasn't playable in Reverie. Not even a tag along character. Waste.
@@AzaliFinrandi true was hoping to see his justice punch in full hd. Or even some banter between him and machias. But to be fair machias was he's successor
Adding on, Mathias has one of the best s-crafts for sepith farming along with the second best being Rean’s first s crsft.
Lloyd insanely underrated here.
He has no delay on bp generation craft so you can keep spamming it and pairing with accelerate like from renne or claire and bursts to never give the enemy a turn.
i was under leveled for final boss, i used that strategy to deal will it.
Fie was my girl. No one could touch her and she was contantly counter-attacking and hitting criticals. Linked with Rean they were unstoppable. That's what i love about these games. There are so many great characters and you can really make a party out of your personal faves and do just fine.
Rixia Fie Joshua and Altina can cheese any over leveled boss(put them backline cz front members are not likely to survive while over leveled on Abyss mode, best option is probably to give in those who on front . also, put the useful orders to Tag-along cz dead members cannot cast their orders😂)
cp/turn is too OP with stealth mode. especially when facing abyss enemies those are crazily fast.
This actually opened my eyes to a few party members I just never got around to investing much in (Gaius, Elie) and reaffirmed my suspicions of certain characters sucktitude (Swin, Celine, Elise). Well made list~...
Hm, interesting.
*plays with favourite characters anyway*
Thanks for another great tier list! Bonus round outfits are fire lol!
Reverie did not disappoint!
Honestly Rean is #1 any day for me. Once you have him and McBurn you are unstoppable. My final party was Rean, Rixia, Arios, and McBurn with Elie and Vita (for her brave order) and I steamrolled the entire TRC up to the end.
That party would absolutely destroy.
But the full 8 BP for Mcburns order even at lv 250 on VERY easy mode is PURE CRAP BECAUSE of its cost that and he's the FINAL party member I had join IN the TRC itself IN the post game.
As proof that anyone can be broken in this game I was using Rean, McBurn, Celine, and Fie as my main comp for the post game and Celine was putting out probably 50% of my overall damage all on her own due very high speed and low casting delay combined with Pandora primary and Mercurius secondary. I also had her aura accessory which made it so even if I exclusively used her as a BP farm she would never run out of CP.
I never got why people think sara is better than fie at evasion tanking. Sara needs to waste 2 turns running up to the enemies and then self buffing insight while having a lower base speed. Fie's fast naturally so she can generally go and jump right into the enemy party before they move and start tanking right away. Combine that with most battles being over after the enemies move once, I just dont see how sara is better since her setup prevents her from being able to "tank" as many hits.
It’s usually because of her self-buff(which grants 50% more Evade), and higher base strength. She also has the better aoe crafts than Fie. Not to mention, she’s a pretty decent arts user. Ultimately, I think it’s more about her great utility on top of her great evade tanking. Fie definitely beats her in speed, but lacks utility. Her other great strat is being a stealth user, but you can’t mix stealth with evade tanking.
Usually if I have to waste turns prepping, I try to give the characters Chrono Burst which helps a lot.
Also Fie is way better as a DPS due to being one of the few characters with the broken stealth buff
Field has better fit role with stealth mode
stealth & evasion tank are mutually exclusive options.
@@victormeng1952 Not sure I agree with this in Fie's case as her speed is so high that she can use a self buff and attack twice before most enemies even get a turn meaning her stealth wouldn't be active when the enemies activate anyway. Also evasion tanking doesn't protect against 100% accurate S-Crafts but you can predict when those are coming and stealth for to avoid them allowing you to evasion tank everything else.
I'm glad to see you're still playing Trails. I thought you had stopped a few years ago
No way. I just was caught up haha
I think Aurelia belongs in god tier.
My final team ended up being:
-Rean with Kusanagi(sometimes Brigid if I need more cp) /Gungir
-Rixia with Gungir/Kusanagi
-Sarah with Aigis/Sirius
-Renne with Pandora/Mercurius(although I wish that I’d pick Crow for his great speed and self-buff)
That’s a solid team. Who did you switch in for Rean during that final battle?
@@locloudanerpg Llyod. I mainly chose him because he’s the other main protagonist.😂 He still a solid character.
You seem to have GRAVELY underestimated how good artes are. You’re list is possibly accurate on lower difficulties (i wouldn't know because i played on nightmare my first run).
On higher difficulties, artes are so good you’re straight up throwing by not using them. Even mediocre mages can begin to compete with McBurn. Physical characters have higher damage caps, but artes users are able to stack cast and bell quartz to cast like ten things in the time it takes a physical unit to move twice. At the endgame level EP isn't even a concern because you’ll just kill the opponent before you run out. Early game, crafts are good, but lategame theres no reason to spam crafts.
You can make crafts work though, by building around stealth, another mechanic you heavily underrated. If you can give yourself stealth youve bascially just hit top tier automatically, except for maybe Altina. You can just load up on CP recovery accessories and live forever and spam crits. The high cost on Joshua doesn't matter by endgame where all your units are able to recover about 10 cp passively per turn and can cast artes to get more turns.
Nope even at lv 250 on Nightmare/Abyss mode I had spell damage NEVER outdamage PHYSICAL s crafts heck even on VERY EASY MODE LV 250 I still didn't have a SINGLE spell outdamage a 700,000 to 1 million PHYSICAL damage s craft at all either.
@@veghesther3204 That's not even addressing what I said, which is that you can spam artes out so fast and hard. Like sure your s craft outdamaged the art, but oops you're out of CP entirely, while i'm able to spam out 10 artes in the time it takes to move again because S crafts have a lot of self delay on them. Like wow you did big numbers that's so cool but I just did 5x as much damage because I value consistency instead of blowing my load on a super move.
Also in what scenario are you ever reaching level 250?? You would need to do crazy grinding to reach that. Comparing damage at level 250 literally doesn't even matter because at that point you can win with anything. Even if you are level 250 though, artes still outdamage lol. Like have you ever played Fire Emblem and used astra? The 5 weaker hits are 2.5x stronger overall. Thats what slow and steady with artes does. You aren't even slow because you can just buff with Wazys order and then switch to a damage buff order and kill everything instantly anyways.
I won't attempt Nightmare mode without lv 250 party members AND 99 Zeram Powders and 99 Zeram Poweders to spam s crafts 3x a turn EVERY turn so spell damage at lv 250 is still pure crap.
Besides you HAVE to lv up all 51 TO lv 250 theirs a in game TRC achievement for that and I'll never attempt Nightmare mode at ANY lv that is NOT lv 250 at all.
the FULL 99 Zeram Powders and Capsules used is exactly why Emma and heavenly gift is pure crap.
@veghesther3204 but why does that even matter. Like wow you grinded to the max level and spammed the most broken item in the game that you also grinded for. Who gives a shit.
I played the game on Nightmare with a fresh save. I actually engaged with the mechanics instead of bashing my head against a wall grinding like a retard.
And again, at level 250, every single strategy wins because you have hyperinflated stats and you also just spammed the most overpowered item (that's in short supply if you don't grind for no reason)
And like yeah if you grinded for an achievement then like sure whatever but that doesn't make crafts better just because you're bad at the game and need to grind just to play a difficulty level that's just "kinda challenging" on a fresh save
@@veghesther3204 So basically you'll only play on nightmare if you've grinded so much you might as well be playing on easy anyway... wow. Very impressive...
I’ll be honest, I’m not much of a Min/Maxer in my RPGs. The closest I get is never *ever* trading my Sepith away for money because I want *all* the upgrades. That said, I cannot wait to get through the rest of this series for the express purpose of going absolutely fucking insane over all the options here.
Great video! Keep up the good work!
Grinding this series is so worth it!
6:50 "best boss breaking order in the game"
Duvalie: *boops
For me I use Rean, Rixia, Alisa and Lloyd since Alisa has CP support so that I don’t have to worry about CP costs when it comes to using Spirit Unification and or other self buffs on other characters, Laura as my back up heavy hitter, Emma being the lifesaver, along with Alfin.
Altina is a fave of mine to build as a nuke. Stealth grants crits to her arts and with the right setup she can deal hundreds thousands of damage with no risk of being stoped(unless someone can hit her in her stealth). I usually run pandora with sub master quartz that either gives her ep regen on arts cast or a crit damage buff one if ep sustain isnt a issue(quick kill or constand low cost arts)
Glad that I'm not in the minority that Arios is just a better Rean.
I always have 1 healer, 1 support, and 2 damage dealers. This has always helped me. I don't really agree with the placement of Swin, though. He's great when you have him obviously linked with Nadia.
Awesome list. Love your channel. However my only critique on this list would move Juna up for the same reasons as Machias. If you have both of the on the same team with Sarah either on the team or in reserve you have endless Turn Order control. You can wipe the floor in even the toughest post-game battles because the opponents don't even get turns.
Thanks for the feedback! I guess I’d argue that both on one team is overkill. I think you could afford to be more offensive and end battles in fewer cycles. But thats the awesome part of the game. There are dozens of killer strats.
@@locloudanerpg Overkill? Yes. Broken as hell? Also, yes. 😂
@@Holy2Tack 😂
Very much agree with the list
i think this list does not value the speed stat enough. some chars like laura didnt seem that useful to me because of that. but alisa was my magical girl 😁juna should also be toptier for her versatility
Id only quibble over a few characters being up or down a tier nothing too egregious.
I didnt endlessly grind to make everyone to the busted busted tier, so I put a lot more value into character who can be "easily busted" without inhibiting their main appeal.
Char's that would spike in my personal chart would be Renne, Emma, Fie.
Fie was my interrupter, evade tank , CP battery (on follow up/counters), BP battery (thanks to raw speed), a plague unit, and barely needs gear to do any of that, which is great when you arent farming every godly piece for every char.
Renne just is the easiest to get to top tier DPS in the game and her physical craft is just such a great mob clear ability before you get to the ability to infinite cast spells. She doesnt require link abilities from anyone else or much self CP regen to do exactly what you want out of her character. I used her over Crow and Vita personally.
Emma- people talk about how great crescent moon is, and rightfully so but also forget that her order can negate entire bosses, and her S craft can negate the most dangerous parts of many fights. Her analyze is a great boss shredder for physical units as it offers def/adf down and unbalance, so Towa's is superior for mage specific teams while Emma's is better for phys teams.
Llyod would actually drop for me, as he always felt like a paper tiger, with plenty of other units naturally doing his role more effectively of tank/suction/plague (Rixia and Sharon are both just straight up better at it). Outside of his MC orders, I really didnt feel like his kit was that impactful on the game (especially compared to Rean or C). Toval would also drop as he is locked to the corridor and his kit is as exciting as a nursing home. He felt as useful as Celine.
I might also drop McBurn, not because he isnt the best character in the game. Its because you get him so late that everyone else can be broken too. He stands above, but does it matter if a home run goes 400ft vs 600ft? Its damn impressive, but doesnt change the result.
Great video! I am trying to finish CS IV to jump to reverie. With so many characters is difficult try one by one.
I higly recomend you Sakura Taisen (1997) the original from sega saturn, I think you will enjoy the game
Sheesh what a roster
I finished this game a few months ago and had tons of fun with the cast. I haven't done the endgame corridor yet and good thing too as this tier will help me form my team. Well I'm surprised most of my favorite characters are high in the list like Rixia, Sara and Machias and Lloyd. I can't decide the other 4 to balance out my team hahahaha.
Though this video would be much longer. I swear I'd play this game if it weren't for all the lore you'd need to know to understand the story. Great list either way.
Yeah it is not the easiest series to get into. The game does provide lore summary but it’s much more satisfying if you played previous titles.
Rixia has such a good kit.
Very good kit. Massive.
Aurelia, Laura, Blaze, Rean, Emma and Duvalie are my top 6
I have no clue how I missed this one. I try and watch every rank video and somehow this one eluded me.
Glad you found it! I have a playlist, so you can look it over and see if there are any others you’ve missed.
For the endgame dungeon, Arios, Rixia, Fie, Aurelia, Emma, and Laura never leave my party
I was originally wondering why you settled on the team of Rean, Elie, Rixia and Emma, but we all know the 6 massive reasons why you chose them.
I had no choice, destiny chose them for me.
This is an outstanding list and I agree with the vast majority of your placement! I would only place Emma higher (a LOT higher) because in addition to being an outstanding mage, her support crafts, especially her S craft just solve encounters on its own. Lack of self buffs is a point well taken, but food and the like can usually gap that. There's just no substitute for Grail Sphere 2.0 in my book.
I could agree with that.
Emma on top is always a good thing.
@@albundy1485 I see what you did there.
Disagree on this. Stealth is insanely broken as it guarantees crit so the character can equip the best damage damage quartz and 2 crit damage M quartz. Best party is Rean for spirit unification / helix, Rixia for 2x stealth, Fie 2x stealth, Sarah as evade tank. Rixia, Fie and Joshua once he gets his accessories spam insane guaranteed crit damage while being invincible. You will wipe out most battles in a few turns.
Alright so you disagree with Joshua and Fie’s placement, or the entire list?
@@locloudanerpg Yes, those 3 with Rean are the best provided they have the best quartz and accessories which requires a lot of u material grinding. Altina is also insanely good with stealth + magic. Rean with unification + gale + valhalla or emblem + ult will 1 shot any random encounter and rixia + fie with 2 turns of stealth + best crafts will kill nearly any boss.
Lol poor Swin, I used him alot in the game, given that apart from the the Abyss difficulty the game is not absurdly hard so using him is not that bad, heck he is probably the character that I had the most fun playing given his gimmick, other than that I used Estelle alot too, stack her with a bunch of attack accessories and buffs she can deal tons of damage with her crafts
I almost maxed out every chars here and here is some of my insights.
CoolDown - time to get his turn.
Ange has the strongest physical non S-craft ability (Zero Impact). Paired with fast heroes she is a beast.
Fie also has one of the strongest and spamable non S-craft abilities.
Lara is just too slow cd wise.
McBurn is a good caster. Ability wise tho he is super slow having one of the largest cool down due to his abilities.
Well cd can be manipulated using chrono burst and Orders.
Love this!
I ended up using Towa and Elise alot while rotating others depending on the role I put them into.
Finally got around to watching this, so I think I’ll go ahead and make some predictions for the Daybreak video, as I have already played both it and its sequel. Be warned, though, as this comment contains gameplay spoilers. Also, I’m not the best at these games, so I may end up getting this very wrong.
Van strikes me as a Top/God Tier simply because when he has access to Take the Grendel in some battles, which is a great damage dealer due to being able to attack multiple times in a turn. When he doesn’t have access to that, he’s still the most reliable tank until Chapter 5.
On the other end of the spectrum is Kincaid, who joins for one dungeon and has no S-Craft until the sequel.
Lastly, I’d like to talk about Judith. While she’s the penultimate member of the core party to join, she has arguably the best self-buff in the game and pretty decently balanced stats, so I’m expecting her to be Top Tier.
Considering theres 51 characters only having 2 in shit tier was a big surprise to me
Yeah, swin and Celine are just plain broken and unusable. Everyone else in the game is completely viable.
Gaius and crow just steam rolls the whole corridor bosses on abyss 😂 these two would be the best in this game
Honestly, the game is not that difficult so I based my team mostly on how much I liked them as characters. Because of that, I never used Elise, Alfin, Musse, Altina,Victor, Angelica, George, Towa, or Claire unless the game forced me.
to me its Rean,Laura,Fie,musse,kurt and Ash
Is this list for Abyss difficulty, because if it is, I have some thoughts xD....
On abyss, crafts can't *possibly* keep up with arts, with exactly one exception. because dealing damage is irrelevant on abyss. The only thing that matters is breaking the gameplay to counteract the *massive* speed buff every enemy in the game gets on abyss. (I think it's 4x)
There isn't really a way to meaningfully reduce craft delay, so it's nearly impossible to play craft builds as your primary option (s-crafts excluded) on Abyss, unless you think you can win when your enemy takes four turns for every one turn your characters take. Later in the game it's probably possible with a speed casting arts supporter to cp battery and liberal use of invulnerability brave orders (and a BP battery to keep them alive)... but that's... a lot worse and more difficult than the best two abyss strategies - speed casting and Gaius (yes, just Gauis)...
Gauis is probably the *best* strategy, because it's the only one that can win the battle consistently with your enemies acting a maximum of 1 time, since 2-3 speed casters casting heat up will easily replenish Gauis's CP before the absolute delay fades, so you only have to survive a single hit (and there are plenty of ways to make that consistent). Casters can also just spam arts and do okay, since you can reduce arts delay enough to compete favorably with the ridiculous speed buff on abyss. Anything else requires some real fine-tuning to work (though I find for a lot of minibosses, combining the revive master quartz with strength stacking and then just s-crafting 16 times will usually get the job done)...
Anyways, creating a tier list for abyss is kinda pointless though because of how warped the gameplay becomes when enemies all have 4x speed.
For NIghtmare and below, there's a lot more flexibility with how you can play, and there I could see crafts outscaling arts damage in the late game xD. And for most people, I do recommend playing on Nightmare and below. Unless your achievement hunting, abyss kinda isn't fun because it *forces* you to fundamentally break the mechanics of the game.
its very nerdy doing this because everyone obviously works well and more or less can be made to function pretty similarly, but if I made a list like this i would try to focus in on what truly unique assets each character is bringing. for example you gloss over the characters you dont think are very good, like millium. But if i were talking about millium i would say something like: "millium is the only unit in the game with a S+ break S-craft that hits all range". Estelle has one also, but hers only hits individual targets. For this reason, millium has a interesting and potentially synergetic niche that would rank her highly for me. Kurt is another example of a character I would rate highly, because his sword dance move is the cheapest self buff and more importantly it moves the turn order allowing you to bypass the chrono burst nerf in this game and move infinitely with the right setup. This again for example is not a niche every character has, and even amongst rean, mcburn, and crow, Kurt's self buff turn advance move is the cheapest. With my criteria in mind - the best units in the game to me would be Lloyd, Kurt, Celine, Gaius, Rean, and McBurn among others. The characters who lacked a strong niche or identity would be like George, Noel, Elise, Lechter, etc, so these would be the types of people I would alternatively rank at the bottom.
Mcburn.. Arios.. Rean.. Crow.. That's all I need
Sausage fest
Renne is and has always been best girl.
I've only played the series Cold Steel and only the first 2 parts on Vita. This series certainly has a ton of characters. How does one even begin to decide on a team?
Whoever has the biggest sword….
@@locloudanerpg
Sword? I figured you would go with chest size.
@@felman87 theres a correlation in the trails series 😂
I never use Machias lol Kinda forgot why though, probably because there so many choice
And he’s a dork 🤣
I remember having an end party of Rean, Crow, Vita, and Rixia/Arios. Chevalier builds on the stealth gang results in some rather nonsensical damage and combined with a crit damage up, good lord. I also ended up abusing Gaius on the true final boss and to my shock, mans can actually AT stun the last boss. Renne's def my second favorite caster. Can't believe the girl's top tier mage for two whole games but here we are lol.
Gotta say upon replaying CS3/CS4 I really did sleep on Mach man. Guy's pretty solid as a party member with the right setups to make dread breaker do some work along with shuffling the turns around with his burst drive.
Old habits never die for me I’ve always liked my team from cold steel 2 rean paired with Alisa fie with emma Still works well lol
Was that Elie costume at the end dlc? I thought I had every non dlc outfit in the game? I did buy the sss swimsuit stuff tho lol
Yeah, it’s DLC.
@@locloudanerpg ok thanks lol
Gotta come back next year when I catch up 😅
See you then!
@@locloudanerpg nearing the end of cold steel 1 got the other 3 and reverie then I’ll be caught up
@@Xebusc enjoy them. I love this series.
Even on VERY easy mode lv 250 Rean and C get the highest damage out of their s crafts around 700,0000 damage to 1 to 2 million if critical hits trigger.
Lapis, Renne, Altina, Rixia.
A fellow gamefaqs user. Nice.
They really figured out how popular rixia is and decided to make her the best charcter in the game lol
Without a doubt.
i finished the game yesterday my party for the most part was luke controlled tear and jade i had fun as luke despite what everyone else says tear was my healer and jade because he’s my favorite character the last slot i swapped between the other three
lol this is not tales of abyss
rean was kinda nurfed in this game by losing his two brave orders, but i would still but him in god tier.
short answer Fie, long answer Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie
Best-looking guys in the game:
5. Joshua
4. Jusis
3. Wazy
2. Randy 😍
1. Olivier 😍😍
How did you like the game? Excited for daybreak this Summer?
Reverie is in my top 5 rpgs now. I absolutely loved it. Daybreak is going to be absolutely amazing.
We all know that it's Emma or maybe it's Rixia but Laura is not bad and...
Ellie is a sleeper.
Fie Rean Laura and Emma my go to party
Goat
i got estelle to insta-break and almost instakill any boss.
For the Algos
dam poor swin 😭
i mean how do you mess someone like him up Combat wise
Seriously though, I mean, they even went through the work of creating a unique feature, and it doesn’t work.
There is me as always including a shit tier char in my main team 😅 Céline!
❤
I think my team on abyss mode endgame was like mcburn, crow, lloyd, Rean. Lloyd was the BP tank and spammed burning heart, Rean was my crit machine with his postgame aura buff which is insane so it can keep up with artes pretty well, Mcburn was the total carry, Crow just wailed out arte after arte and supported iirc. I tried loads of characters and i don't agree with this tierlist even though anyone can work but looking objective artes are slightly better than crafts even in Reverie. Hope you like artes teams cause thats all Daybreak will truly be and the worth of characters is how well they can at least be a light caster. RPG's love mages way too much. The gap is too big in almost every game you play. Its getting tiresome seeing mages be the most broken characters in a majority of RPG's nowadays.
Man, I thought Musse was an awesome caster. Felt top tier to me. Maybe I just built her in a way that made her better than the rest of my team. Otherwise my non-optimal play experience aligns with this list.
My final team
Rean with brigrid + minatouras with high speed and break damage with decent evasion
Alitna marcicus + gunnir
arts coverage
Crow gunnir + tempest basically always crt build
Fie = Sirius + gunnir evasion dps dealer imo she is better evasion tank then sera
Juna for her excavator craft moebius + any other mq (just there for escaping from bad situation)
Emma = her default mq + Titania
High arts dps
Renne = Titania + Vega
Rufus default mq + Vega had him for his 2nd brave order
Tagalong = Angelica and lecter
I found Claire, lapis, not as good as swim who you put in trash tier his gimmick is really good well atleast in the main story
Also rean a better arios imo the damage from arios twin gale is to low in comparison to rean and cp is absolutely not a problem in this
Self buff skill are not that useful when brave order give a lot 9f buffs like Emma for caster and mahicas for physical attackers unless they give some additional effects
Alright, I'd like to defend Swin here, because, as someone who has used him for most of my time in the TRC (True Reverie Corridor) (both in NG Abyss and NG+ +100 Level Abyss), I have played around with his moveset extensively. This is my breakdown of Swin's abilities based on the criteria in the video, speaking on Abyss difficulty (mainly for +100 Level TRC, but I have used this setup on a lower scale - without stupid lost art stats - in NG Abyss' TRC). This will be very long as I am simply stating everything I have learned about Swin throughout my time playing Trails into Reverie, and why I do not believe that he is the worst character in the game.
The language I use for stat changes is +1, +2 and +3, which represent S, M and L increases respectively. Therefore, if a move gives STR-L boost, I would say that it gives a +3 STR boost.
NOTE: When I use the term 'best' (or similar), it is my personal opinion. However, as mentioned earlier, I have invested a lot of time into Swin, and I'd like to believe that I know what his optimal setup is by now, in terms of quartz and equipment.
Criteria: Availability - Not an issue: Act 1 onward, Act 3 for TRC
Quartz - This was slightly ambiguous to me. You said characters are judged on "innate abilities" (1:05), then that the "best possible quartz setup" was used (1:13). This is confusing
and I will act on the assumption that Swin has *his* best quartz setup (Mentioned in quartz section).
Equipment - Difficult to understand, as character-specific equipment was mentioned, but the way equipment slots were handled was difficult to understand for me. Assuming that you
meant it in a similar manner to quartz, I'm giving Swin the best equipment setup of Nimble Halo and Solomon Garb (He'll need his sub-MQ (sub-master quartz) slot later, so
I'm not using Dire Gladiator Belt for CP, as then I'd have to use Talisman sub-MQ for status immunity. Grail Locket Ur does not prevent stat down and so is redundant.)
Magic - Since the only art Swin should ever cast is Chrono Burst, I have nothing to say about arts power.
Damage Types - Burst Damage: Good (Mark EX--->S-Break with +3 STR), Sustained Damage: Good (Mark EX--->Revelation EX with +3 STR), Break Damage: Decent (Revelation EX has A break
rating)
Support - Swin's proficiency in a supporting role is akin to his ability to take a full powered, critical hit, ATS +3 Melville Ray. In other words, Swin is not a supporter at all.
Roles - I have a lot to say on this too, so it is discussed later.
Before I respond to your placement of Swin, I'd like to give an overview of his character, as well as how I've used him. (Continued in replies)
OVERVIEW
---------------------------------
First, I'd like to state what 'marking' actually is, to be able to use a clear definition, as the video did not clearly state it. Marking is a status condition which makes the next attack/craft by Swin deal a critical hit, removing the mark at the same time. Swin's attacking crafts can all cause the mark status condition at varying chances, which are mentioned in the moveset section. His normal attack can also cause mark at 50% chance, while arts cannot afflict or destroy marks at all. Enhance status on bosses and formidable enemies give immunity to mark.
Second, his stats: To be fair, they aren't good. His STR is subpar for an attacker, but that can be made up for in setup (Equipment/Quartz). His ATS is awful, but he shouldn't be used as an arts attacker, so that doesn't matter too much (This is also because arts do not afflict or destroy marks). DEF is decent for a sole attacker and ADF is bad. Therefore, Swin's only 'good' stat is his SPD, though it falls short of really fast characters such as Fie, Arios and Duvalie. Max HP is decent, and while EP isn't great, he only needs one art so as long as he is kept above 400 EP (Chrono Burst EP cost) at all times, there is no issue. He also has 5% base evasion, which is a bonus.
Third, his moveset (Arts and Crafts): For arts, getting Chrono Burst is not difficult, as my quartz setup includes a Time MQ. No other arts are needed.
For crafts, Swin has three, and one S-Craft. Mark EX is a cheap (20 CP) craft with low power, break damage and unbalance chance (C/D/D) and a S+ set area of effect. However, its main use is marking enemies (4 turns, 100% chance), which is the entire purpose of my setup.
Revelation EX is interesting. It costs 60 CP, is single-target (bad), and has S+ power, A break and D unbalance (That unbalance chance is inconsequential as hitting marked enemies causes a critical hit), while having a 60% chance to afflict the enemy with mark status. While this looks quite bad for such an expensive move, the critical hits from marking combined with Revelation EX's S+ power boost damage quite substantially, making the overall DPT (Damage per turn) good, rather than underwhelming. (This is considering that he is only able to use critical hit Revelation EX every other turn.)
Zoom Zone 2 is very good, with only one big drawback. It is a self-buff which costs 20 CP and gives STR/SPD +2, as well as CP +25 per turn, all for 4 turns. This basically gives Swin infinite CP. The move also has 500 delay, while many other self-buff moves have 1000 delay. The only issue is that it only gives a +2 boost, not +3, which is bad, but he can often use it twice in quick succession at the start of a battle to get to +3 STR/SPD.
Swin's S-Craft is Three of Swords A, which has 4S+ power and B+ break with LL Set area of effect, which, while quite low for an S-Craft in Trails into Reverie, is also affected by marking. This allows the move to be a guaranteed critical hit at 200 CP (Zoom Zone can restore CP directly after Mark EX, so Mark EX--->S-Break is quite viable for burst damage).
Fourth, his other abilities (Brave Order and Link Abilities): For Brave Order, Shadow Step (+1 STR/MOV for 2 turns, -50% delay for 6 turns) is quite useful, though the MOV boost is very strange. It helps with Zoom Zone 2 at the start of battles and also with Three of Swords A Delay (Usually after Mark EX--->S-Break).
For Link Abilities, Protective Wall (90% damage reduction to Swin and link partner takes no damage, random activation) can be helpful at times, but the better ability is Arts Support 2 (+50% arts damage to link partner, random activation), which allows Swin to serve a purpose in a casting team.
Fifth, his roles: According to roles mentioned at 2:01, I think Swin does alright. Support: Obviously not, there is nothing about Swin that suggests or promotes support in any way. DPS:
Swin's DPS is great with Mark EX--->Revelation EX. Breaker: Decent with Revelation EX, but not amazing. BP Battery: Critical Revelation EX always unbalances, but Mark EX only has D unbalance rating, so overall his BP potential is alright. CP Battery: He can sustain himself with Zoom Zone 2, but nobody else. Tank: Swin should not be played defensively, so therefore he does not fit this role. Debuffer/Plaguer: This comes under support, so he is weak here.
SETUP
---------------------------------
In general, I use Swin as a strong, fast physical attacker where his marking mechanic causes critical hits on Revelation EX and Three of Swords A, while Zoom Zone 2 and Nimble Halo keep his CP up, which allows him to deal sustained damage (Mark EX--->Revelation EX) and high burst damage (Mark EX--->S-Break).
Equipment: His weapon is obviously Claustrum's Veil (3 Black Zemurian Ore) for pure strength (2495 STR and 2% critical rate). Armour is Blue Parka IV for STR and SPD, while shoes are Stealth Boots IV for STR and evasion. Accessories are Nimble Halo for CP regeneration and STR/SPD, as well as Solomon Garb for status/stat down immunity and the STR/SPD boost.
Master Quartz: Swin's MQs are the reason this setup has any damage output, as his Main MQ is Kusanagi, while his sub-MQ is Gungnir. Both of these boost critical damage by 120% at level 15, and Kusanagi gives S Tier STR/SPD boosts (240 and 25 respectively). Kusanagi is also in the main slot, to give the evasion boost, while Gungnir's third ability only increases arts critical rate, which is useless for Swin. Gungnir also gives Swin Chrono Burst for free, so he will not need any quartz to give him arts directly.
Quartz: Swin has two Time slots, and one Earth slot. Time slots use Melville Arc and Melville Ray, which increase STR by 750 and SPD/evasion by 35(%) when combined. The Earth slot is quite flexible, but my preference is Dazzling Rakan Gem to increase STR/break damage by 100(%). The other 4 slots should contain quartz to increase STR and SPD. For me, they were Dazzling Carnelia Gem (400 STR), Lion King (300 STR), True Rage (15% evasion, allows counters to be boosted criticals) and Dazzling Nohval Gem (35 SPD).
Overall, the reason that I like Swin as an attacker is because he can abuse boosted critical damage with no risk (Low HP is not required like when using Tempest MQ) and without compromising his STR/SPD (He doesn't need to use quartz or equipment slots for a consistent critical rate as marks guarantee critical hits).
RESPONSE
---------------------------------
This is the part where I address the video, and the creator's comments regarding Swin. The quotes are what was said in the video:
"Swin's character-specific ability is broken, and not in a good way" - What makes it so bad? Personally, I see a method where guaranteed critical hits can be dealt to every enemy in the game, with no true drawbacks to doing so in terms of attacking. Marks last long enough to warrant using, and are consistent to apply due to Mark EX's 100% chance.
"Marking enemies for crits (critical hits) ends up being an absolute waste of time" - This is just a blanket statement, which is not explained whatsoever. Therefore, I am going to ask: Why is marking a waste of time? I've given a lot of reasons to use marking in this comment, so, if anyone responds to this comment, please address what makes my reasons redundant.
"He is actually better as a subpar caster" - No, he is not. His ATS is completely terrible and his marking mechanic allows him to use specific setups very effectively (e.g. Kusanagi/Gungnir MQ), which far outclasses his (in)ability to cast arts for damage.
CONCLUSION
---------------------------------
To conclude, I want to make it clear that I don't think that Swin is some incredible Top/God Tier character. I think he is Low Mid Tier at best. There are some other comments made in the video which I take issue with, but I mainly wanted to address Swin's placement here. I'd love to have a discussion in the replies about Swin, or the other statements if anyone wants me to address those, as I firmly believe that he is better than number 51.
@@harrygx708 happy to chat as you spent a lot of time on this. Honestly you make good points for how to best use him but my question is less about Swin and more about everyone else. In your opinion who are all worse than Swin and why? Because I think you could make a lot of those same arguments for many on the lower tiers.
@@locloudanerpg Thanks for replying. I think I'd initially planned to compare Swin to other characters, but as I wrote the original comments over several different sessions, and I must have ended up forgetting by the time I'd finished talking about Swin himself. I'm currently creating a response comparing Swin to the Low Tiers (and Celine), but it may be a few days. Have a nice day. :)
@@harrygx708 looking forward to it.
@@locloudanerpg Firstly, I edited my first response’s conclusion to remove ‘Upper Mid Tier’, as while I believe Swin is better than bottom tier, upper mid tier was a massive stretch. I also removed the DPS/DPT distinction, as it really doesn’t matter.
To avoid the insane length of my previous comments (Note after finishing: It's still extremely long.) , I'll only compare Swin to each of the low tiers (and Celine, who I will address last) here:
NOTE: 'CSA' refers to character-specific accessories, and for this comment, each characters' unique aura/halo accessories. Also, I might miss 2/3/4 in crafts and link abilities, I always mean the highest level of the respective craft/link ability for the character.
Part One - Swin vs Supporters/Plaguers
------------------------------------------------
Elise: Technically, Elise could also be considered under 'EP attackers’, but her ATS isn't high enough to warrant using arts for me, so she's here instead. Elise is mainly a support character and her crafts reflect that. Holy Squall 2 is probably her best move, as it is a strong heal which removes status/stat down (Characters shouldn't be getting statused in TRC anyway, playing without status immunity is very dangerous in Abyss' TRC). Pure Serenity is a horrific buff, which is far outclassed by Zoom Zone 2, and Swallow Tail 2 is the most useless attack in the game, in my opinion, as it does nothing special (100% impede, which can be covered by Sevenfold Gem on any character) and is weak in all three categories (C+ power, C break, C unbalance). Dancing Petals is definitely better than Shadow Step due to the ability to turn any character into an evasion tank for only 2 BP. For link abilities, Auto-Tear 2 is better than Protective Wall while Auto-Charge 2 is worse than Arts Support 2. I think these reasons are sufficient to say Swin is better than Elise.
Lechter: Like Elise, Lecther could be argued to belong under another label, this time ‘CP attackers’. However, his S-Craft (Rubrum Knight 2) and Leavateinn 2 fit the ‘plaguer’ role more nicely. Heat Up 2 provides 50 CP, but I would say that Zoom Zone 2 is better, as you get more CP (100), and over time (25x4) rather than in one go, which is often better (The SPD boost makes it better also). Spell Card is too random to be good. Laevateinn 2 is comparable to Revelation EX, as it is slightly weaker in power and break, but multi-target (extra unbalance doesn’t matter due to marking critical hits for Swin) with potential status infliction. Auto-charge 4 is good, but many casters can use Pixie/Titania to restore EP, so Arts Support 2 is better. Fool’s Vermillion is a good attacking order, and is comparable to Shadow Step in use, though I would say Fool’s Vermillion’s insight boost makes it slightly better. Rubrum Knight 2 is very random (e.g. deathblow, petrify and vanish are useless on bosses) desperately requires CP to function, and Lechter struggles to create it as it has to come from Heat Up and his CSA. Swin’s higher consistency (especially with effectiveness of S-Craft) and power make him better than Lechter in my opinion.
Part Two - Swin vs CP Attackers
------------------------------------------------
George: The issue with George is that his high STR is paired with horrendous SPD, and no way to buff either stat. Conversely, Swin has Zoom Zone 2 and high SPD, so although his STR is lower than George's, he'll be able to deal more damage altogether. George's ATS is low, like Swin's so they are similar there. As BP batteries, Swin is better due to consistent critical hits. Swin can also fund his own CP while George has to rely on his CSA for CP. In terms of orders, Draupnir Guard is expensive, but can protect even when not on George's turn, and can give total immunity to certain bosses with magic absorption. In comparison, Swin's is more universally useful, but less specialised, for example: when an enemy is broken, Shadow Step can give the opportunity to maximise BP before the boss returns to normal. For link abilities, I'd gravitate towards Swin, as Arts Support 2 is better than Auto-Charge 2. In terms of defence, George definitely outclasses Swin, but he doesn't have any crafts that would support a defensive build (heal, buff etc.), except Detector-Sigma. Overall, Swin is more cohesive and has a clear offensive (critical) build with a SPD stat that supports it instead of hindering. Hence, I believe Swin is better than George.
Ash: Ash’s problem is similar to George’s. That is, that he struggles to move quickly. He does have a self-buff, though it has 2000 AT delay and only raises STR for 2 turns (the CP+50 is good but it has to be renewed constantly). Hence, I believe Zoom Zone 2 is better. Dead Man’s Dart isn’t great on Ash, due to his subpar ATS (also, BLN down is only one turn). Reaper’s Whirlwind 3 costs far too much for what it does, as Ash needs high MOV to get in the middle of several enemies for only A+ damage, but it can cause deathblow/nightmare. Rumbling Smash 3 is decent, but it has the same MOV issue as Reaper’s Whirlwind 3, but it is more cost effective (B+/B/B for 30CP). The main comparison here though is Void Breaker EX to Revelation EX. As single moves, Void Breaker EX is certainly better, due to the absurd SS break rating and DEF -3 effect. However, in context, Revelation EX is more powerful due to Swin’s marking. This is compounded by the fact that Swin has to buff less frequently than Ash, and has a SPD buff, increasing DPS. S-Crafts are interesting, as Sinner’s Revelry 2 is really strong (comparable to critical Three of Swords A) and lowers all stats -2, but is single target, which makes Belial Raid 2 the better option for most battles (multi-enemy battles) as an S-Break. Belial Raid 2 is weaker than critical Three of Swords A, though. Therefore, I believe that Swin is better than Ash.
Angelica: Comparing Swin and Angelica mostly relates to their crafts, as they are both attackers with Swin having higher SPD, and Angelica having higher STR. Laser Bullet 2 outclasses Mark EX, with its higher damage (A vs C), though it is more expensive. Zero Impact 2 is similar to Void Breaker EX on Ash, though here I think it is slightly better than Revelation EX as it has SS+ power. Zoom Zone 2 is better than Dragon Boost, due to its lower delay and CP recovery, as it allows Swin to sustain offense longer than Angelica, who has to rely on her CSA. Ebon Dragon is stronger than Shadow Step, and the insight is quite helpful. Swin’s link abilities are better than Angelica’s, as Arts Support 2 will often have more impact on a proficient caster than Angelica’s damaging abilities. With marking, Three of Swords A has higher damage than Dragon Kick 2, though Dragon Kick 2 can cause faint. Overall, the man reason I think Swin is better is that Angelica finds it difficult to get CP for her moves (CSA), while Swin finds it much easier (CSA and Zoom Zone 2).
Victor: Both Swin and Victor lack versatility, but Victor’s STR is substantially higher, with the craft Supreme Radiant Wings which gives STR +3, HP recovery and Brandish. Swin, on the other hand, has a STR/SPD +2 boost and CP regeneration at lower delay, which I think is better. Victor’s highest power craft is A+ power, which is weak compared to critical Revelation EX. However, Supreme Radiant Cleaver is strong for only 30 CP cost (and gives SPD/MOV -3), while Supreme Radiant Spin has utility with its faint and suction. His order outdoes Swin’s, due to the 300% increase in break damage and maintenance of STR/ATS buffs for one turn. Similarly to Angelica, his link abilities fall short of Swin’s, due to their physical attacking nature. In terms of S-Breaks, I think Three of Swords A is better, because of its higher break rating and capacity to critical hit without fail because of marking, even though Divine Phoenix Slash has a high (200%) faint chance. Hence, I think Swin is better than Victor due to his more sustainable damage output and CP reserve, similar to Angelica.
(Continued in reply)
Still haven't found a reason to use Crow outside of the game forcing him into the story. I never saw the appeal of his gameplay at all, he never sticked with me. 😅
.hack remake incoming? Maybe?
@@locloudanerpg Heh, I wish........🥲
@@Realmidboss I’m still holding out hope. I’ve been holding off beating them for my PS2 RPG challenge just in case a miracle happens.
this for ps5?
Yup
What game is that at 0:02?
Unicorn overlord. Comes out in March and you should absolutely preorder it.
I can't do Falcom games. They're just too anime, and I do like some anime. This video didn't change my opinion on this, but it was still a fun video nonetheless watching all the different over the top character designs.
You know, in spite of Machias being God Tier and being "better Juna", after 4 Cold Steel games of me going "nah, not gonna use Machias", I feel oddly compelled to still use her (or someone else) instead just to keep the personal joke going, lol.
I hear you. I can never get myself to go all in on Machias.
@@locloudanerpg Yeah, when there's assassins, bracers, jaegers, witches, combat shells, 1 person armies, demon bloods, icy maidens, dominions, fiery redheads, and knightly tsunderes, "chess nerd with a shotgun", kinda doesn't seem as cool. Even his "I have 2 pistols" bit, Crow, Juna, Fie, and Noel have covered. Hell, Noel has a rocket launcher and a motorcycle, lol.
My best +loved party in the postgame=
Rean Melee
Toval+Emma = best OP arts casters (tovals unique item makes him the best caster with emma +the same unique item)
and Fie/Lloyd support caster
woooo reverie reverie.. we all know ur god tier is emma ur waifu
Machias is such a boring character. I only used him to grind for sepith. Rean, Sara, Altina and Juna were my main team.
brother you don't know what your talking about lmao
you rated all these characters on a surface level actual joke list lmao