TWPE'S PROFILE

author=LouisCyphre

Solitayre
This is a hallmark of LouisCyphre's game design philosophy, where games can be won on a spreadsheet before you ever play the game, but I'm not sure how many people actually play games like that.

i don't actually know what this means; it seems to imply that I should instead say "deals some damage" but that feels like lying to the player

Necro

Personally the image in the review showing that skill description convinced me that I will definitely download and play this game at some point. I like knowing how my skills are calculated.

author=kentona
... in-depth analysises (analysii?) of (almost) all of the classes!

Wait, did I miss a class?

author=kentona
These are great in-depth analysises (analysii?) of (almost) all of the classes! I really appreciate that you took the time to write down your thoughts on them and how they all interplayed with equipment and buffs. It is much food for thought.

Analyses (with a ees sound at the end)

I really should go through all that I wrote and punctuate properly, move the parentheticals to better locations, and get rid of all that poorly used capitalization... But that's not gonna happen.

I'll finish writing my review for your game by the end of the week (and try not to tear it apart in the process :P but even if I do I'll probably give it 4 stars).

author=kentona
Master Classes seemed like a good idea in my head at the time...

o.o Did I come across too negative?

Welp, hopefully I don't sound too negative here.

Heroes and Their Classes

The Hero Classes share a few things in common: they all have middling stat growths that can't compete with the best classes; they all share certain support utility spells (heals, a revive, Outside, Return); they all share certain offensive spells (Zap, Thunder, Thordain, etc).

Despite this, they're not created equally. Due to certain abilities and some weapon restrictions, some heroes are capable of far more damage than others. Raj Ahtan has about double the single-target damage potential of Akira and Zefiryn, and we'll talk about Holdana later. Some heroes are much better at utility or support than others. Raj Ahtan has group heals and essentially an infinite mana pool. Akira is a spell or two shy of being an amazing boss utility character.

But let's get to it.

Ninja(Akira) and Magus (Zefiryn)

I constantly go back and forth between which of these Heroes is the weakest. So, instead I'll just compare them together.

Zefiryn's unique ability is Magicombo. This is essentially an inferior Pummel for magic / inferior Chainmagic. It takes a turn to set up. It only doubles the number of spells cast (no 5x here). It is also extremely glitchy (I've had her kill party members after using it and it can lock up the ATB bar under certain conditions). I'm not quite sure why a gifted hero on a quest to save the world has an inferior casting ability (and inferior int) than some nameless mooks recruited to come with her, but there it is.

Akira's Unique ability is Throw. Throw is what a lot of the Rogue Abilities wish they were, and it is a major contributor to the Daredevil's bag of tricks. It brings: a multi-target Sleepmore (yes this is exploitable); the strongest anti-undead ability (Spirit Skean); multi-target death magic; MP and HP drain lumped together in one attack; and an early game trash sweeping ability. Throw is a great toolset. It is, sadly, better off in the Daredevil's hands. Yes, Akira suffers from inferior-DD Syndrome (Akira: "Hi, my name is Akira, and I'm an inferior Daredevil." Nameless Mook Engineer: "Me too!" Nameless Mook Sage:"Me Three!" Nameless Mook Daredevil: "You guys suck!").

These Heroes have very different abilities. So, why am I comparing them? Well, both of these Heroes suffer from inferior offense and are better defined by the support and utility they bring to their parties.

Zefiryn brings: better trash clearing ability (especially early and mid-game); Fairly decent anti-ghost capabilities (Magic damage is supposed to be her specialty after all); sleep (just sleep); and Bikill (but sadly no Speedup to pair with it).

Akira has: strong poisons (Poismost); Sleepmore (Multi-target); Strong Anti-undead (Spirit Skean is so OP); Speedup (but he can only bikill himself and he shouldn't be the greatest contributor of single target damage in his party unless you didn't take a Warrior for some reason); and a group targetted Sap.

Sadly they're both missing something compared to other classes. Akira is missing Bikill (or better yet, Heroic) and (arguably) Demi in order to match the boss utility of Sages and Mesmers (He's closest in utility to these two classes). It would be nice if Zefiryn had Speedup and Sleepmore instead of sleep, but it is what it is (Chainmagic would be great too).

So how do they compare offensively?

Zefiryn has shapeshifting in the form of Wolfman and Wolflord (yes she does better single target damage by shapeshifting for most of the game). Werewolf is replaced by Weremage (always missing something to complete the package, these two...), sadly; which comes far too late in the game to be of any use at all to her. She can also contribute to her party's overall damage with a well placed Bikill (doubling a Warrior's damage will probably do way more damage than Zefiryn and Akira combined). Late game she can spend extreme amounts of MP by Magicombo'ing Thordain to do passable damage (this only does slightly more overall single target damage than Akira with a Falcon Blade since she has to spend a turn to set up Magicombo).

Akira can self buff with Speedup and Bikill (this means he is faster than Zefiryn since she does not have Werewolf). Speedup affects the entire party so he contributes to ending fights sooner (overall damage is the same but it is dealt faster). He can also maintain strong poisons on high hp targets. He can equip whips (except the best whip, but who cares... Falcon Blade) to hit twice for most of the game (he IS stronger at single target damage in the early game).

All in all, they are both missing important pieces to complete their offense, support, and utility. While writing this I did end up managing to convince myself that Akira is actually more useful than Zefyrin; but they are so close that it doesn't really matter.

Monk(Raj Ahtan)

Raj Ahtan is a physical, single-target damage powerhouse that can out-damage a shapeshifter once buffed up. If pummel wasn't in this game, he would compete for highest damage in the game with Daredevils (Daredevils would win though, because dual-wield Falcon Blades / Lightsabres and higher str). His best feature is dual-wielding. Late game, he can dual-wield Tiger Claws to hit 4 times per attack and easily out-damage Akira and Zefyrin and their piddly Falcon Blades / Magicombo Thordains (he has higher strength growth on top of that). In the end game he will be doing 3-5k more damage to single targets than Akira or Zefyrin if geared properly.

There is an accessory in this game that was practically made for him. The Lunar Shawl is found late game and causes the character to be permanently buffed with Werewolf (This is amazing even though it doesn't stack with Heroic). Throwing this accessory on people who can already shapeshift lowers their overall damage in order to save them a turn (or they can equip a str accesssory which will then scale with werewolf... I.E. The smart option). Throwing this accessory on someone who can pummel prevents them from pummeling and therefore gimps them. That really only leaves two options: Daredevils; and Raj. Daredevils lose all the utility they bring by doing this. Raj, however, can still use his great healing to top up between battles. Throwing this accessory on Raj makes him an invincible (yeah he literally can't die unless death magic works on Werewolves) berserker of MURDER. In random encounters, he will probably go immediately (unless the enemy surprise attacks you) and he will probably kill most of your enemies before anyone else gets a turn. If they survive his first turn, he will probably get another turn before they do and finish them off.

His ultimate weapon is kind of pointless. If ANYONE ELSE could equip it, then it would arguably be one of the best weapons in the game. However, dual-wielding Tiger Claws easily surpasses it in damage (and can be done much sooner).

His unique ability, Chi. Allows him to self-buff his agility and strength (the important buffs) at the cost of a couple turns (which come quickly if you buff agility first); which is useful until you have a source of Heroic or the Lunar Shawl. Chi also allows him to meditate (best done before battle) which causes him to regain HP and MP every time a friend or foe takes a turn. Essentially this means he will never run out of MP if you utilize this smartly.

Raj is also the best healer (among the Heroes). He gets strong group heal spells from level 20 onwards. Coupled with nigh infinite MP, his party never needs another healer. He lacks a means to take care of ailments, however. His infinite MP and healing ability makes his party a great candidate for the longer paths in dungeons where your Heroes split up.

Huntress(Holdana)

And then there is Triple H. I don't have much to say here. Her ultimate weapon is more useless than Akira's (which I didn't even bother to mention because it is useless). She has great poisoning ability but she is better off just murdering her opponent. She has pummel. She is broken. While she does clearly less damage than Champions and Templars, it is practically semantics at that point (Triple H: "Damage race!" Templar, Champion, Daredevil, Raj: "Okay!" Triple H: " Aww I only did 45k to my boss but the Templar and Champion did 50k to theirs..." Daredevil: " I only did 9k..." Raj: "I did 8k...").

If you don't want to save all of your seeds until you have a Templar, then she is a great candidate for them. They're arguably more useful on her anyways due to diminishing returns.

Her main advantage over Champions and Templars are her better defensive options (due to Hero only gear and resistances). These are totally overkill and irrelevant.

I have literally nothing else to say about her.

author=Craze
I haven't played for a while, but I remember loving the alchemy class (Warlocks?) a LOT. Those potions are very useful early, and not useless in chapter 5. Holdana is also easily the best hero, yeah, and I also agree with RydiaZefiryn being second-best.

Hee hee, I don't agree that Zefiryn is the second best hero class, but I'll get to that eventually.

Holdana isn't up for debate, though. her damage is only surpassed by two classes (neither of those classes are Hero classes).

Warrior Classes
What can I say here without sounding like a broken record? Strictly speaking, Warriors are the best suited to dealing damage in this game. Geared properly the Warriors (with the exception of the Ronin) can out-damage every class I've covered thus far (no I haven't covered the Daredevil yet despite how many times I said Daredevil in this thread) in the majority of situations from the mid-game onward. That said, there is very little reason not to promote your warriors to the Elite Champion Class (whose damage potential is tens of thousands of points higher than the next closest basic Warrior). But let's get on with it.

Black Knights:
Black Knights are your basic RPG Fighter class with an added perk of having access to some offensive spells. This allows the Black Knight to help clear trash and to fight ghosts early on. The low int of the Black Knight, coupled with the poor damage scaling of magic over-all, prevents this from being too useful passed the prologue chapters. The ability to fight ghosts is still a major boon in chapters 1-4 but the Paladin can actually do this better. That said, the Black Knight hits much harder than the Paladin and will do so for the entire game (except versus ghosts).

Black Knights have way more defense than any class needs so you shouldn't have to worry about your Black Knight dying.

Black Knights are SLOW. Your enemy will move before them. Since it is quite possible that the Black Knight is a major contributor to your party's damage, your enemy might still be very much alive when it is time for them to attack you. Because of this, it is advised to not pair frail, squishy classes with a Black Knight unless you can slow or disable (sleep) your enemy. It is also advised to equip your Black Knight with agility gear.

Black Knights are viable for the entire game based on their equipment options and Strength growth alone. Their magic will contribute very little after the mid-game and their agility will be a problem. Promoting to a Champion is still advised because the Champion will do everything the Black Knight does better (even fight ghosts if you equip a non-physical damage weapon).

Paladins:
Paladins are basically a tanky support class. They get a revive late game and they heal just the right amount. They lack the ability to cure ailments, so they can't completely replace a Druid without item support (honestly the only ailment you get hit with constantly is poison and Zefiryn has antidote; so you could stick a Paladin in her party if you wanted). Paladins are one of the most effective anti-undead classes in the game. They get every Bless spell by the end of the game and Bless is the only offensive magic that remains competitive with physical damage dealing all the way through the game.

The Paladin is the second weakest warrior offensively by the end of the game(especially if it receives buff support... poor Ronin) unless very rare gear is given to the weakest Warrior class in order for it to compete. The Paladin ,when geared appropriately, will still be able to out-damage all mages in single target damage (including the Channeler I have yet to cover) and nearly every Rogue (except the Ranger and Daredevil).

All that said, you don't need a Paladin. You don't need more healing. They don't bring any extra utility beyond the whole fighting the undead thing and a late game revive. They're also slow. Again your enemies will move before them. Of course, a Paladin can just heal up the damage your enemies will do (assuming your party member survives), but you would be better off preventing that damage in the first place (by murder... murder is your best defense).

The Paladin is viable through the entire game... But honestly, they'll hold you back. The slot dedicated to a Paladin would be better off filled with a real support or more damage. Take a Paladin if you want a little extra healing and some anti-undead utility in the early game; with the intent to promote ASAP during chapter 5.

Shapeshifters:
Shapeshifters are murder. This is my favorite class. In chapters 1-4, nothing can out-damage them against single targets (not even that Champion you cheated by starting with). They're fast. Due to the nature of their shapeshifting spells, nothing can really kill them either. They don't require healing support. They don't require cures to most ailments. Most ailments will fail on them when in wolf form and shapeshifting cancels most ailments and debuffs (except stopspell). You could plausibly run an entire party of shapeshifters through chapter 2 (just have Zefiryn handle the ghosts and use some scrolls) and just walk away from the computer during every boss (that isn't a ghost) and win.

Their biggest flaws are their lack of non-physical damage, and poor gear selection (mostly the poor weapon choices). I believe their earliest access to a non-physical damage type is the Ladykiller/Maneater weapons in chapter 5. Of course, those are relatively well hidden; so a casual player might not find them. The next option would be the fire claw; which I'm fairly certain is only available after you obtain a ship in chapter 5. Because of this, they cannot fight ghosts for a good chunk of the game.

Elemental restrictions aside, their limited gear choices also hinder them defensively (hah they don't need it anyways) and causes their damage potential to fall off by the end of the game (when nearly everyone else can catch up to them by using Falcon Blades). The lack of defensive options can be counteracted in part choosing a female Shapeshifter (more armor options for all classes).

They are a prime candidate for the Blade of Arborlon since it is only one of two multi-hitting weapons they can actually equip. The Blade of Arborlon would be better used in the hands of a class that can pummel, however. The only other weapon that lets them remain competitive in the end game is the Tiger Claw (this is store bought, though; so you don't have to worry about someone else needing it more).

As long as you work around these flaws, Shapeshifters are viable for the entire game (easily). After a certain point (level 16 maybe, level 31 definitely) the Champion class WILL OUTDAMAGE them and the gap will get larger and larger (until the Champion is doing 30,000+ damage and your Shapeshifter is doing 5,000 x.x). The Shapeshifter also does not benefit from buffing; so once your party has a reliable source of Heroic, it's probably time to promote.

Ronins:
Honestly, don't roll a Ronin. Just don't. They're faster than Black Knights and Paladins, but they're still slow. Their low strength (relative to Warriors) is made up by the fact that they can dual-wield, but their weapon selection is terrible. They can self-buff, BUT THEY NEED TO SELF BUFF in order to compete at all (and of course none of these buffs stack with Heroic later anyways).

They can Sap, and this is actually a perk, but so can Daredevils. Ronins are basically inferior Daredevils (wait are we back on the Rogue post again?). In the early and mid game you're better off with a Black Knight or Shapeshifter, and in the late game you're better off with a Daredevil.

Even Paladins and Rangers can outdamage them against single targets passed the mid-game, unless you give them the Blade of Arborlon in one hand (and THAT would DEFINITELY be better off in the hands of somebody else).

Ronins are still viable through the mid-game. If you give them the Blade of Arborlon and a good Katana (or something like the Maneater), they can be viable through the end game... But... You should definitely promote, their is no competition at all between a Champion and a Ronin unless you have no other source of Sap across your 16 characters (which you should... seriously why don't you?). Honestly, you shouldn't even roll one to begin with.

Champions:
Broken. Champions are a walking exploit of the inherent flaws built into RM2k3's base system. Their sole ability is Pummel. They share this ability with Templars and our Huntress Hero, Holdana (henceforth known as Triple H). Pummel is just a straight up damage multiplier that scales with level. Pummel gets exponentially stronger when used with a multi-hitting weapon and buffs (multiplying multipliers makes you stronger, go figure). Champions are tied with Templars (it's hard to test which, if any, is stronger) as the strongest Class in terms of raw single-target damage. Only Holdana can compete by the end of the game; everyone else is left in the dust (though Daredevils can compete at random in what seems like less than 5% of their turns).

Champions also have excellent stat growths and gear selections.

Their only weakness is their lack of non-physical damage without equipping certain weapons. Since those weapons are available all over chapter 5, this is only relevant if you cheat and start with one rather than promoting.

They have no utility. They don't need utility. Their purpose is damage. They do benefit from another party member bringing utility (especially buffs and Sap), but they will still out-damage everyone without those things.

Champions are VIABILITY. . .

All Warrior classes should promote to Champion. If you feel like you're low on heals, you might consider keeping a Paladin... But the fact that you took a Paladin might actually be why you need so much healing in the first place (you're taking more damage because you're killing slower and acting slower).


End of Warrior reviews. On to the Master Classes.