Ranking the Final Fantasy 6 Characters from WORST to BEST

[@davidvinc]

Want to see more? www.twitch.tv/davidvincstreams

[@Endarire]

What are your rankings for players well familiar with the game's mechanics?

[@StewNWT]

I was shocked you didn't have Sabin first

[@ahmadayubi4346]

EZ Bum Rush: VV< works 100% of the time.

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

I have to disagree on some of these: Cyan hasn't dragged me down and him learning Stop is a boon for Intangir hunting, Edgar is nice and all, but his Debilitator is so hard to get, Relm's Sketch helped me pick up Roulette and Step Mine, and Sabin beats Edgar easily with his Fire Knuckle. My MVP is Locke. I picked up the Ultima Weapon and he massacres anything in the Returners' path. Gave Sabin the WoB Genji Glove and his damage went unmatched except for Shadow. Did the "Say no to Banon 3 times" trick to get it early. Even found that a Heal Rod makes Strago a good support character along with Mog's Wind Song casting Sun Bath. And I'm at the WoR for the first time. Wish me luck.

[@GrandAnodyne]

We all must agree that shadow's doggo is the best character, those blocks are lifesavers man

[@davidvinc]

Top 10 best dogs next??

[@GrandAnodyne]

@@davidvinc nice! i'll wait for that

[@ThomasstevenSlater]

@@davidvinc I'm for that too.

[@acidwizard6528]

@@davidvinc ooh ooh good idea. So many cool dogs in JRPGs. Love me some Repede.

[@ace-trainer-aj]

@@davidvinc Koromaru deserves a treat, even though some of his skills are useless against bosses.

[@mr.horse1801]

Sabin can body slam a train. Nuff said

[@truindividual]

Tifa: *hold my gloves*

[@ZhangtheGreat]

@@truindividual Tifa would win in a fight against Sabin by default, because Sabin's too noble to hit a girl. Of course, he wouldn't take it one step further and flirt with her like his twin.

[@truindividual]

@@ZhangtheGreat but Tifa can Suplex Emerald, Ruby and Diamond Weapons. Way bigger than a strain

[@dude_8434]

Also, a Dragon and Behemoth. Pretty Savage 👍

[@treyatkinson7564]

@@truindividual yes, but they were not a train that conveys souls to the afterlife. He suplexed the ENTIRE TRAIN, cars and all

[@mskain4896]

Umaro has a use even greater than the fanatic's tower: the coliseum. EVERYBODY in the coliseum is Umaro, except that they suck because they will randomly use all the most useless spells you've had them use because they've equipped Espers. But Umaro just bulls forward to kill things, like he always does. Other than that, yeah, the Dead Last character for sure

[@louisdellalucca8969]

And Sabin always uses Spiral!

[@everthon2457]

@Son Gohan oops

[@marc0lin00]

For the colosseum just trasform a pg into Imp, equip him with the Imp equipment and set the relics Genji Gloves (double imp halberd) and DragonBoots. He will resist any damage and use only physical attack. 9/10 win

[@HunterCarrell]

I'm incorporating a patch in my hack that makes the coliseum controllable, called True Duel.

[@cheshire_skatkat9093]

@@marc0lin00 I couldn't get that to work. From nes to ps1 re release. I had the tortoise shield and the rest and even changed the character name to KAPPA like they said too but didn't see it do much.

[@iamthem.a.n.middleagednerd1053]

I'm 37 years old and this is by far my favorite Final Fantasy game and I've probably beaten the damn thing over a hundred times in my life if not more then 200. What I like to do is every time I beat the game the next time I beat the game I take something away from myself. For example, I will say okay next time I play through the game no Genji gloves. And then it becomes no Genji gloves no offering no economizer no Ultima spell excetera excetera. As for my list of worst to best, not that anybody gives a shit. I'm basing these characters in their overall value throughout the game, not just their usefullness at the end of the game and how much I like playing with them. 14. Gogo: Just because he can equip different skills is silly because he can still just use 1 skill at a time. Plus he can't equip espers for stat upgrades and he's kind of slow and weak. 13: Setzer: Slot ability is retarded. Fixed dice with Offering is Over Powered as Fuck but you don't get it until the end of the game so these 2 cats usually wait in the airship while I do Kefka's tower. 12: Mog: Water Rondo is a MAJOR pain in the ass to get and you can only get it in the World of Balance. His dances can be really cool, though (when they actually work). Also, having him heal your party for the umpteenth time when teammates are dead is annoying. Also, he's nothing special as a fighter or spell caster. 11. Strago: Weak, Slow, and his Lores, while some of them are pretty cool (Grand Train rapes), they cost too much MP. Also you get him too late in both worlds to be able to level him up much. Good Magic user, though. 10. Locke: Fastest character in the game (give him Odin for about 20 level ups for some real speed) means more turns. He's a below average fighter but he has some really cool character specific weapons, armor, and relics and the capture ability will net you tons of cool shit throughout the game. Also, his storyline is the best. 9. Umaro: A tank that is really usefull in the Tower of Fanatics and is a great character to partner with... 8. Cyan: Cyan's utility increases with Umaro in your party because his Swordtech is really cool and having a character continuing to fight while Cyan powers up is a big plus. 7. Relm: Weak and slow. Stupid ability. Great magic power. You get her too late. I end up putting a Heal Rod on her and make her a healer usually. 6. Sabin: Bum Rush kicks ass and so does he. Strong, good speed, awesome weapons, the only drawback is when I fuck up a blitz. Magic power sucks 5. Gau: Bad Mother Fucker IF you know which Rages to get. Uncontrollable though. How many times have I needed to heal my party and this dumb motherfucker is trying to Blind the enemy for some reason. 4. Edgar: All of his tools kick ass. Autocrossbow in the early game is broken (because it's so OP). He's strong and can equip tons of stuff. Not the best speed in the world and shitty magic power. Sometimes his chainsaw will "Dispatch" an enemy that just comes right back to life. 3. Shadow: Second fastest character in the game, but he's much stronger than Locke. Give him Running shoes and a Hero Ring and let him Throw your whole inventory at Kefka's Army. He's a bad Motherfucker. 2. Celes: Only the 4th best Magic User BUT she's playable for the whole World of Ruin so you have loads of time to teach her spells and increase her stats. Decent fighter but I love Runic. Put her with fighters and Runic will neutralize most enemies' attacks in the late game while recovering her own MP to heal between battles and saving money on Tinctures. 1. Terra: This is a bad bitch. Good fighter. 2nd best Magic user. Good stats overall. Morph is the best ability in the game. It doubles her power practically making her into Wonder Woman. If there wasn't a time limit on Morph it would be unfair.

[@cocomunga]

Terra rocks. Many difficult fights in the game, such as Flame Eater can be won in a single turn with Morph.

[@CosmicCosmo1]

Your ranking is perfect so much better than the video host's list

[@iamthem.a.n.middleagednerd1053]

@@CosmicCosmo1 thank you for saying that. I actually bought this game at Toys R Us when it first came out for $89.99 in the Christmas season of 1994. I put more than a few hours into the game LOL. Guy making this list obviously doesn't really understand the game

[@iamthem.a.n.middleagednerd1053]

Thank you guys for your comments. This guy is out of his mind. He doesn't seem to understand ALL the characters. When he said Runic us dogshit I was like "WTF"?? You don't put Celes with Magic users, dummy! In the Kefka fight I put her in the first team of 4 to fight Kefka because Kefka's attacks are basically all magic. So I'll put her with non-magic users like Umaro, Sabin, Edgar, Cyan, Mog, ect. To let her soak up the damage.

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

@@cocomunga I actually have a funny Edgar/Ultima Weapon story... Edgar was with me on the Floating Continent and had the Debilitator (courtesy of Locke and the Cranes, seems like the Thief Knife increases the rare steal chance despite being outclassed by the Ultima Weapon) and Edgar hit the Ultima Weapon with Lightning weakness... I didn't realize it until I got 9,999 damage on screen.

[@ThePigKnight]

“Now that I’m pushing 40.” Me: !!! I thought you were late 20s!

[@stephaniegifford5932]

I thought the same thing!! 🤣🤣

[@FerDeLance06]

LOL, I know; he's still a kid! Damn, I wonder if he wants to swap with me - almost pushing 60; aging rocker and still a gamer. Life ain't worth shit if ain't fun! :-D

[@dialp4penguin]

Shout out to gamers in their late 30s still playing the classics!

[@katerinaquinn5482]

I'm 43 and I still play the game It's my favorite of all of them outside of 14 obviously

[@bw2273]

Here!

[@begjon13]

It me!

[@dude_8434]

35 here 👍. I found these in my formative years, luckily.

[@LadyLunaNini88]

I'm 39 and I still play the classics to this very day and I love it!

[@maxwellhenschel6956]

Umaro definitely saved me against the ice dragon. The ice dragon kept healing him when the rest of my party was down, so I went to make some tea while Umaro fought the dragon by himself.

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

Ice dragon? Try having Cyan being the only survivor of the Red Dragon fight. I had Empowerer, but it was tough...

[@Shorty_Lickens]

Its easier to equip armor and shields that absorb or nullify ice than it is to just brute force that dragon. Or really any of the elemental dragons. By the time you get to the Doom dragons you should have a few relics that block Doom.

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

@@Shorty_Lickens I used the IGN guide and yes, I had the Ultima Weapon, but the guide said to take on the Red Dragon before getting Locke back and receiving the Flame Shield/Phoenix Esper. I tend to go to the extreme on grinding as well (I think I was around lvl 45 for my average at that point and IGN said a minimum of 30 for the Floating Continent; plus I usually grind Terra to level 8 before meeting Locke so he'd be at level 10 (level scaling is Terra's level +2) and to learn Antdot (the SNES version had Seizure status which Antdot could deal with but Antidotes were ineffective against), but it took around 3 attempts to down that beast. I now use GameFAQs for guides. The difference in quality between IGN and GameFAQs is huge.

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

Just got on board the Phantom Train in FFVI Advance, and it's a blast with Shadow on with Cyan and Sabin. The humor is spot-on (now I know why Cyan lost control of "his" Magitek armor back in the Imperial camp) and here's a cool trick that I found in the SNES FFVI for Zozo: give Shadow Dragoon Boots (stolen off the feet of Harvesters), then have him Jump. If you finish the fight fast enough, he'll be off-screen but not gone. He can never leave if you do this each fight.

[@shadowslash932]

Locke, Shadow, Edgar, Sabin and Terre were my faves. In jrpgs I tend to just use my favourites rather than who is best battle wise which doesnt really work out in the end lol.

[@acidwizard6528]

I'm guilty of this as well. I tend to use characters I like even if they're not the best. Annoying children characters sit on the bench so I don't have to hear them whine.

[@shadowslash932]

@@acidwizard6528 Yeah i remember playing Versperia for the first time and having Estelle as a full time party memeber and then having my ass handed to me mid way when she leaves the party for a huge chunk of the game. Yeah annoying bratty kids get benched for me as well, like i'm trying to save the world not babysit your child for a 40+ hour game. There are exceptions to the rule however.

[@acidwizard6528]

@@shadowslash932 That is a real shock in Vesperia when you lose Estelle. She is the only dedicated healer in the game, and having her around allows you to make some mistakes, or play casually. I had trouble at that part of the game until I made adjustments in my playstyle to compensate. As for kids in JRPGs, the Tales series always seems to have at least one. Karol and Patty were awfully annoying in Vesperia for instance. Laphicet in Berseria is a good caster, but fits the whiny child trope, so he wasn't a primary party member for me. Presea in Symphonia is kind of an exception due to her stunted growth. It's been many years since I played it, but I seem to recall that she's older than she appears due to some experiement. I haven't played all the Tales games, but I'm sure there are many other examples, and obviously there are countless more from the hundreds of other JRPGs out there..

[@shadowslash932]

@@acidwizard6528 Yeah I am still pretty new to jrpgs only really playing final fantasy, persona and Tales of and a few others. But of the games I have played the kid is usually my least favourite.

[@SeventhheavenDK]

In this game you can use any character you want without problem, for instance, once I got Umaro he was always in my team, and a lot of people seem to bash him. Really, any Final Fantasy (well, at least from 6 onwards) can be cleared with any Character you like. i don't understand the sudden obsession of using the "best" characters.

[@guillermoh.k.2967]

Tip: Mash (Sabin) Blitz abilities can be triggered VERY easily by tapping the inputs instead of doing the "fighting games" motions, by substituting the diagonals with any of the 4 directions: aura cannon can be triggered by pressing down down left instead of half circle. rising phoenix as left left down down right right and so forth. Never missed a blitz command any more.

[@xGasTon87x]

As a kid I played it with emulator on a keyboard, using this method never missed a blitz

[@0Fyrebrand0]

WHAT!? I can't believe I'm only learning this in 2020...

[@questionablebackyardmeows]

WOW I didn't know that, that actually makes them much easier, basically like the deathblows from Xenogears except without the input as to what you've already hit

[@FlareStar100]

Wow, awesome knowledge. I always was good with the blitzes input but I will try this on the gba version

[@Late_Night_Mega]

I was coming here to comment this. The Blitzes are easy to pull off with this, and I continue to be surprised at how many people don't actually know about this.

[@stephaniegifford5932]

As a person who named their dog Celes, I think I can tell you who my #1 is 😜😜

[@CelestialReturner]

You named your dog Celes?

[@calanon534]

Terra?

[@ludgerkres.1437]

#1 must be Edgar. He be meta.

[@traviswall1982]

Celes is my personal #2, after Sabin.

[@FerDeLance06]

Mog?

[@momamario]

it's interesting how your list is pretty different from my list. I think it really speaks to how viable (most of) the characters are, and how your own approach really matters in who is useful. If anything it makes me love FF6 even more.

[@Kbtoy789]

Right? Celes always ends up as my top character during my playthroughs, in both the WoB and the WoR. My final party always varies, but off the top of my head, Sabin, Relm and Shadow normally are in my final battle.

[@RobGreenEyedTiger]

Setzer's normal abilities do kind of suck though once you get those Fixed Dice, hoo boy that is a fun mix when you give him the relic that lets him attack four times.

[@sycotha939]

add the dual wield artifact and the other dice set can allow him to do 9999 dmg x8 if his luck is high enough

[@playnamz78]

You guys mean Offering (x4 attack) and Genji Gloves (Weapon in both hands) That combo is a world of hurt when used with leveled up Atma Weapon & Illumina swords... 80,000 damage each turn plus chance of casting Pearl

[@sweetjohnny8211]

I always gave Setzer the genji glove with doom darts and fixed dice, was always nice 👌

[@catcat5564]

@@playnamz78 what is offering? The double attack item is called master's scroll and you get it in odin's palace in a monster chest in the left room... ive played this gsme too many times

[@playnamz78]

@@catcat5564 Offering is the name of the relic that lets you attack 4 times, as was on the original SNES FF “III”. It may have changed names in future iterations or on original super famicom version in Japan.

[@louisdellalucca8969]

Whenever I hear Strago, I remember Rabtoons FFVI in a nutshell: Strago: There! He used Bad Breath on me! Now, I can use it Edgar: Come on Strago, no need for excuses, just brush your teeth once in a while. Strago: Screw you whippersnapper!!!!

[@jakerodgers9146]

You watch Rabtoons too, neat, he does make some good stuff in his parodies, along with the fact his humor and the way he structures them evolve over time, and that he streams his model creations for anyone who wants to watch him make the next parody.

[@louisdellalucca8969]

@@jakerodgers9146 I'm addicted to Rabtoons. I love the Resident Evil parody, and the FF In a Nutshell.

[@jakerodgers9146]

@@louisdellalucca8969 I know, right. it is quite the channel if your looking for some laughs.

[@pisicafairy4606]

"look!healing rod!*boop!*"

[@jakerodgers9146]

:)

[@matsujonen]

My favorite character from VI is and always will be Locke

[@FerDeLance06]

I'd have to go with Sabin. Locke's steal command is great when it works, but spending about 15 minutes trying to rob an enemy that looks like it'll give you something bitchin' and then eventually getting a fuckin' tonic ... ...!!! Any idea it there's any way I can get another 'tiger fangs' to double up on it with the genji glove? There doesn't seem to be one in the Colosseum.

[@nickophoa2812]

@@FerDeLance06 he can attack 8 times with dual sword and quadruple bangle

[@jc.1191]

Him Terra, and Celes for me. All great characters.

[@ASquared544]

7:32 Clearly you were never caught off guard by the ice dragon when trying to get Mog, accidentally had Celes with the ice shield, and since the dragon wiped out all other party members and reviving would mean wasting a turn and getting Celes killed, singlehandedly had Celes take out the Dragon while using Runic to counter the more powerful abilities that couldn’t be absorbed, like the “You Best Be Frozen” one.

[@AnotherDuck]

Bit late on the response, but that's one reason I'd rank Celes higher as well. Runic can straight up lock down many magic-using enemies and bosses. It's a great, if situational, ability.

[@cheshire_skatkat9093]

Celes is my girl! I LOVE that runic ability. It's good insurance.

[@ZenKrio]

I just posted a list I'd have here and Celes was at the top. She benefits most from Esper levels. Of course Magic is busted, and with Enhancers and Lightbringer she will cap damage before most everyone else. As stated above, her weapon selection is among the best in the game. She's on your team more than most in the important chunks of the game. The only other characters that can reliably out DPS her are Sabin with select Blitz attacks, Cyan with Bushido (especially in PR and Mobile where you don't have to wait for charge ups) and early game Edgar with Drill/Chainsaw, but those aren't as reliable or a versatile as Magic. Yes, Gau can out DPS the entire game if you know what youre doing lol, but thats a 50/50 RNG every turn, and you have to work for it.

[@BoomTheGuardian]

Cyan's Bushido is heavily buffed in the current steam/ios versions though, since it charges in the background and let's you select other actions while you wait for him to get active. If you like Cyan, be sure to get that version before it falls off steam at the end of the month!

[@ZenKrio]

In my recent PR playthrough, Cyan was on my main team due to this, and it feels like the background charging is a lot faster as well, and with Auto battle, he will recycle the same Bushido which makes this a lot faster as well.

[@sebby2350]

he was also buffed through ROM hacks of final fantasy 6: Ted Woolsey Uncensored, T-Edition and Divergent Paths

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

I'm playing the original FF6 and just downed the Red Dragon. Everyone in that party (Terra, Relm (complete with Curaga) and Edgar) fell. Only Cyan with the Fenrir Magicite won. He earned that Strato with his own BLOOD.

[@ChaosChronicle]

I think you do a really great job pointing out flaws and strengths of characters. I have no disagreements with your analysis. But one criticism I have is that you say it's a vanilla run but your placements suggest otherwise. For instance, you say Gau is #3. I think Gau is a really great, high tier character, but until a player learns and understands how Rage works and which Rages are good and when, Gau is easily considered unwieldy to newer players. Contrast that with Setzer's slots which require considerably less time investment to figure out how to rig, and his #13 slot looks weird. Again, nothing you say about the characters is wrong, I just would consider Setzer much easier for a first time player to learn and understand, and he's far quicker to master, over a character who's a semi-berserker that may require massive time investment and experimentation to learn to use and still requires considerable backup for things like healing unless you already have ample knowledge of the game. A few opinions: -Relm is one of the weakest characters and I'd only consider Umaro and Cyan weaker than her, and that's only because she has a massively high natural magic stat in a game that favors magic, and the fact she gets access to equipment like Snow Muffler. -Gogo doesn't get stat boosts, leaving him to be one of the worst characters if you've been using stat bonuses throughout the game. Gogo does 1/3rd to 1/2 of the rest of the party's damage by the time you're in Kefka's tower, and even less if you max characters out. The mime falls behind way too fast and has an awkward equipment selection so I'd rate him lower than Setzer and Strago for sure. Really great video, I love all your JRPG knowledge.

[@herved.2063]

I totally agree with that comment, in particular regarding Gogo stats. Even though I loved Gau right from my second playthrough (Stray Cat is just that powerful), the fact you can't control him when using rage can be quite a flaw. On my first playthrough, I ended up in Cyan's dream section way too early (after just getting Cyan and Gau back in the WOR). There's that moment your party is split. I ended up with Gau as a single character party, still being pretty confused at that point which rage is useful and which isn't. There's no way I would have ranked him third after that! Also, I don't like Mog. He's missable in WOB, and that's the only place where you can learn Water Rondo. Dance often fails or triggers a skill that is either useless or misses, and finally you lose control over Mog once it finally starts. The moogle charm is so well hidden that you're unlikely to find it on your first playthrough anyway... Locke on the other hand is great right from the initial run. He's super fast and has a great selection of weapons. Steal/Capture is an amazing skill, as it can help you obtain great items. It's of course a matter of luck to realize this on a first playthrough, but this is definitely a character I'm always eager to get back in WOR.

[@jagoob]

Relm doesn't get snow muffler but she does get behemoth suit which also one of the best armors I'm the game.

[@ChaosChronicle]

@@jagoob Oops you're right, it was Mog that I was thinking of.

[@lanychabot-laroche135]

Also agree with Gogo, versatily is nice, but they're just so. much. weaker. than everyone else! And the equipment is a mess, they can't use any of the top equipments.

[@sh4d0wfl4re]

during my first play through, I actually found gau to be useful enough to play around with what he could get. But it really is a luck of the draw whether the first time you use him he comes with something good enough to validate testing whether his other rages are as good or better. Random chance characters are stronger for less experienced players, so setzer should be higher on the list as should the yeti. However strago, mog and relm are all pretty weak if you don't know how to get them built up. So for first play through they are weaker than most characters, with locke being just useful enough with steal that he would be kept in just to satisfy the greed. And for first playthrough runic does get in the way just often enough that I would place terra above celes. But this list does by and large fit my list for casual replay tiers, with only slight differences for power gaming. x-gem and economizer combo rather powerfully with quickening and either terra or relm. (or whoever you gave all the magic power to with esper level bonuses)

[@sladelius6174]

Locke is still the GOAT. Best physical attacker. Genji Glove, Master's Scroll, Ultima Blade, and Valiant Knife. That combo kills everything in the game. Everything.

[@MerlaTealeaf]

True that... killing machine!

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

Try Setzer with Genji Glove + double Viper Darts. Better assassin than Shadow.

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

@@sladelius6174 Something incredibly obscure I learned about Locke's Theme: it uses an instrument called a timpani. The first Pixl in Super Paper Mario is named Timpani. Coincidence? Not sure, but still fun to think about.

[@SeventhheavenDK]

I disagree with Edgar being 1, he gets outclassed once you start learning magic, I also think Terra should be higher than Celes.

[@qwertsh21]

Agreed, but I guess the argument here would be her availability. In WoB you get Celes not so late past the start of the game, whereas in WoR it takes quite some time (and is actually optional) to get Terra back to your party.

[@SeventhheavenDK]

@@qwertsh21 . Yeah, but people seem to forget that Celes is also unavailable for some time in the game, after she "betrays" you in Vector, and she doesn't join you again until the end of the WoB.

[@qwertsh21]

David Kings true I forgot that, thanks for the refresher! Then indeed I agree that Terra goes above Celes under any circumstances. What would be your ranking of the characters? :)

[@ultraness]

Edgar is outclassed by Sabin, too. Air Blade is much stronger than AutoCrossbow (before then, Sabin's Fire Dance is roughly as good), and Bum Rush is much stronger than Drill and Chain Saw.

[@sammyshehole]

@@ultraness Yeah, Bum Rush is amazing. Chainsaw is cool too but I have to avoid using it on bosses and even some common enemies because of its chance to try and fail to instakill them.

[@Antedithulian]

The correct answer is actually General Leo. E for effort, though!

[@TheBrutalSax]

Idk he kinda got bodied by an evil clown before he became a god

[@sh4d0wfl4re]

the actual worst character is Bannon, as he is the party's weak point whenever he joins up, and he lacks the magic power for pray to be useful.

[@catcat5564]

@@sh4d0wfl4re ugh pray is so good but then he just gets otked by ultros and im like fuuuuu

[@sh4d0wfl4re]

@@catcat5564 If Banon weren't level-locked he might have been a good asset in battle, but...

[@generaljimmies3429]

There is a mod out there that swaps General Leo for Shadow(General Leo lives in Thasma, Shadow dies), Leo even gets his own unique reunion scenario in the World of Ruin. New dialogue and everything. You meet up with him after Thasma in the World of Balance. The mod is more than just swapping characters, there is some rebalancing to make some things both easier and more challanging.

[@jonathanmatthews8862]

Fun fact: if you give Gau the Retainer monster rage he uses Shock. The signature skill of Gen Leo.

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

RIP Leo. I actually heard there was planning for a way to bring him back via a potion, but it never got put in. Is there a ROM hack that allows this, and adjusts the story for it? I'd actually like to see his reaction to WoR and Gogo.

[@WesleyWyndam-Pryce]

I use Celes, Terra, Edgar, Locke, Sabin most but just throwing it out there, I love Umaro!!! Poor guy has too many haters.

[@Zephhi]

Same.

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

Gau is awesome too. He can buff himself with Float before you can learn it, then next battle go Templar for Float, Auto-Safe, and Fira before Terra rejoins post Morph.

[@deathknell609]

Yes, I agree. People overlook Gau for being uncontrollable, but he can be very powerful with abilities that cost him nothing to use. I especially like Straycat's Cat Scratch ability. When it goes off on a boss, it is a boss killer. It is so good.

[@cheshire_skatkat9093]

Gau is really good in the beginning IF you are willing to invest in him on the veldt.

[@goranconstant9540]

@@cheshire_skatkat9093um the rafflesia rage is op in the last section of the world...

[@csmith3248]

@@goranconstant9540 With the rafflesia rage skill you can’t lose, it charms any enemy including bosses so the enemy gets confused and attacks itself

[@osurpless]

@@csmith3248Yep, doing the Soul Shrine with Cyan to see if it is possible with Rafflesia mainly. Some enemies can cause zombie etc, so important to have fallback healing.

[@dieuraltemorla1658]

I love Gau

[@yunakitty2]

Omg. Your rant during Sabin about “I don’t play fighting games, I don’t really play Mario anymore, I don’t play 3D Zelda games because I’m a crotchety old bitch using 40” That’s literally me too 😂😂😂 I mess up those blitzes and they stress me tf out!!

[@Gamersglade]

I disagree with most of your list, but that's the beauty of this game, so many cooks in the kitchen, and I LOVE it! haha

[@soyoucanchangethis]

Yes this list is trash. And Gau at 3 cause once you learn yada yada yada literally the opposite of the reason Setzer is 13. Like starts list off with this is for first time players and casuals yet...

[@FinalManaTrigger]

Locke was always my main character, and my other favorites were Sabin, Edgar, and Terra. Barely used anyone else.

[@robbase5235]

Substitute Terra for Celeste and I'm in total agreement. Locke is my most dominant character.

[@sladelius6174]

Locke is the best melee character. Edgar for utility, Relm for Magic, etc. Locke literally solos super bosses with my build. EZ dubs.

[@catcat5564]

@@sladelius6174 I mean... give terra soul of thamasa and celestriad and she 1v1s god kefka at level 50...

[@asham868]

Immediately expected Umaro. I always get him, but never use him in battle, ever

[@hubertcumberdale2651]

Don;t know why Locke was so low. He's actually REALLY good end-game with great speed, equipment, and it's inevitable he'll get a lot of spells because you have to use him so much.

[@ZhangtheGreat]

@@hubertcumberdale2651 Locke is one of my primary money-makers because of his theft ability.

[@aleccampbell7707]

@@ZhangtheGreat "even stole his cloths"

[@cocomunga]

I once tried to beat the final battle with only Umaro. The third stage uses an instant death attack upon defeat which can miss,but then you have fallen angel from Kefka. If he doesn’t use it or you can regen health with a relic that might work. I only tried three times and made it to Kefka, but couldn’t beat him.

[@jc.1191]

No personality. Can't get behind a no personality hero with no story to fall on.

[@ShamanNoodles]

i played this all the way through for the first time ever this year and it was so incredibly good! I didn't expect it to live up to the hype, BUT IT DID

[@jaydarke]

It IS the hype lol

[@ShamanNoodles]

@@jaydarke It really is! =D

[@davidvinc]

Like this video and what I do here? Consider supporting me on Patreon! www.patreon.com/davidvinc [​0:38] - 14) - Umaro [​1:11] - 13) - Setzer [1:46] - 12) - Cyan [2:30] - 11) - Strago [3:16] - 10) - Locke [​4:04] - 9) - Shadow [4:49] - 8) - Mog [5:36] - 7) - Relm [6:21] - 6) - Terra [7:03] - 5) - Celes [7:54] - 4) - Gogo [8:39] - 3) - Gau [9:24] - 2) - Sabin [10:14] - 1) - Edgar

[@alucardvania986]

I love your videos David. You seem like such a lovely guy.

[@lorddoomer501]

Edgar can't heal. I soloed Kefka with him by equipping fire shield and casting Merton twice per turn...

[@ryanschaefer8407]

Great video. Always enjoy your content. Definitely agree you need to do a FF Tactics ranking as that game is amazing. Clearly would have to rank unique characters as well as vanilla by job! I am curious as I have watched a lot of your content, seem to be a rare RPG fan that I don’t ever recall covering one of my other all time favorites Dark Cloud 2, what’s up with that or did I miss it?

[@NightSwamp]

Hey david, what are your thoughts on Fire Emblem 3 Houses and Xenoblade DE?

[@schmelzwah]

I think I have to disagree about runic blade ability on Celes. Defensive abilties that cost nothing are huge when you have 3 other party members. The fact that it blocks magic AND heals her for free against certain fights as a first time or second time player was amazing for me, and much more useful to me than basically everyone that you put before her, but that is just my opinion.

[@nicjanelle]

I used Umaro in my party pretty much everytime once I got him. Loved him haha. I didn't find him any bad in my casual run. I used Gau, Strago or Relm much less for example. In a casual run, you can't expect everyone to go out of their way to get all these monster abilities, as good as they might be. Umaro's brute force and elemental resistances were good enough for me.

[@scotttaylor5624]

I love Umaro, he's a freaking yeti. What else do you need? This game isn't that hard so you don't need every character to be an insane powerhouse.

[@omegaweapon116]

@@scotttaylor5624 Yea that's the thing about a lot of RPGs. You really don't need to be optimized to beat the game. Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei, Persona....you can beat them however you want. Now, going against superbosses on the other hand....

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

Plus, if he gets the Rage Ring, Tackle becomes Throw Ally. Uses *their* stats instead of his.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

Feel like for me, I would rank Terra higher than Celes. Even listing to your reasons you might agree with this: with near identical equipment options and with both having the ability to naturally learn magic, there's very little difference between them in the two games. And when you consider the esper time available to both of them, Terra gets more in the world of balance than Celes and with a wider variety of espers since Celes leaves the party from the end of the Magitech Research Facility until the rise of the Floating Continent, additionally Terra is more or less required for most of the main missions between those two events giving her a lot of time to learn magic and get those bonuses. After that, Celes is mandatory up until you acquire the airship in the world of ruin, at which point if you so chose, you could immediately attempt to recruit Terra. So their time with the level up bonuses is comprable. Ultimately what separates the two of them is the usefulness of Runic compared to Morph. Runic is strong for the first little while between the boss fight against Kefka and the magic users in Zozo, and quickly loses usefulness as you continue on. Morph starts weak, but gets better as the game goes on and Terra is able to maintain the form longer. By the end of the game, Morph is still useful while Runic is not (and is limited by what weapon Celes has equipped. No runic if you give her Atma Weapon) making Terra the stronger overall character.

[@biz0unc3]

Funny enough, David - this game taught me how to play fighting games. Once I figured out how to do Sabin's moves...it's like I suddenly understood everything.

[@Hirochicken]

When I saw Sabin's techs I said "oh, he plays like Ryu" to my brother. Sabin helped me nail down the Dragon Punch in Street Fighter tho 😈

[@michaelsong5555]

Celes's Runic isn't as bad as you make it sound. Some spells are immune to Runic, so you can abuse the hell out of it. For example, use Runic, then have all other party members use Meteor. Meteor cannot be absorbed by Runic, so she won't absorb your magic. But it'll defend against enemy magic just fine. And obviously, Edgar/Sabin techs are immune to Runic too.

[@EchoFoxtrot21]

I came looking to defend Gau's utility because I figured he would be at the bottom. Pleasantly surprised.

[@catcat5564]

Gau is sooo good midgame, he can be good late game but my issue with him was always navigating the list and not knowing what most of his abilities did. He just took so much grind between getting abilties, rejoin, and then figuring out what those abilities did. Not to mention just leveling up.

[@FrozenZerg]

In my opinion Umaro has an hidden potentail that nobody expect, he is able to do fights alone and win. Doing so, makes him able to get all the XP for himself and you can had eggs to his equipement to even double the amount. Quickly, he will even be able to solo Tyranosaurus and grind to 99 in no time and you don't have to make any micro management in the menu to choose the right esper, in that way that simlicity is a strenght here . Once Umaro is 99 he will be really useful on the Mage tower and carry the other party members and make them able to grind all their skills points to the maximum. He is also really efficient in the coliseum i guess. So yeah, at the end Umaro will not be as useful as other characters but until that, he will help them a lot by doing what i said. Forecast a lot of sleepy bag for his grinding to heal him.

[@vintagegamer695]

What makes me feel that Terra is the main character is the following reasons: She is the one riding the magitek armor in the game's logo, also was the first character introduced. If you beat the game without getting her she will transform to her esper form and fly to Kefka's tower to be part of the ending sequence; no other character does that. She is one of two characters to naturally learn magic, which was stated to be the key to winning the war against the Empire. Lastly, if I'm not mistaken, being half human half supernatural or magical being is usually if not always a trait reserved for the main character (I don't read enough books to know if that's true). I do like that the developers gave many of the other characters a major part in the story instead of letting Terra hog all the spotlight.

[@je7055]

I'd throw in Celes as a co-protagonist too, because the devs set them up so well as contrasts of each other, even down to their names with the whole earth (Terra, terrain, terrestrial) and stars (Celes, celestial) dichotomy. Both can use magic, "earth" girl naturally, "star" girl thanks to technology. Terra, at the beginning when she regains consciousness, is told by a kind old man that she has to escape the city - Celes, at the beginning of the WoR when she regains consciousness is told by a kind old man that she has to escape the island. Terra uses fire magic, Celes uses Ice. In the WoB Terra lacks confidence and is introverted and uncomfortable around others, while Celes is a confident and accomplished general. They trade places to a degree in the WoR, where Terra finds a role in which she's comfortable (protecting the orphans, then later fighting for them) while Celes is lost and struggles to find her place in the new world of ruin. The game is full of little contrasts like that and I really enjoy that the game keeps it subtle - I guess the Sabin/Edgar contrast is pretty obvious but for the most part the game doesn't beat you over the head with it.

[@vintagegamer695]

@@je7055 Sounds about right with how I feel about those two.

[@Harie0]

There's also the fact that Terra is the playable character in the Final Fantasy Dissidia games. The first one had the main hero and villain from 1-10.

[@bluesfier7758]

I feel that Terra is the main in the world of Light, and Celes is the main in the world of Ruin.

[@vintagegamer695]

@@bluesfier7758 As do I.

[@GamerSaeM]

Disagree with Setzer being at the bottom, the coin toss does deal a whole lot of damage and it really won't make you go broke. Never had a problem and never will. Also disagree with Shadow being at the bottom, I mean his inviz throws, Imp Halberd and so much more that deals so much damage and also have counter with his dog that deals tons of damage and also takes no damage for Shadow. I do like Edgar a lot, but later his tools lacks damage. Very good early game, but it starts to lack damage in the later games. He is able to equip the best items in the game so I give him that. Sabin as you explained it is due to your own lack of ability to do his blitz. He is strong early game and late game with his blitz. I like to give him 2 tiger claws and offering and Genji glove. Just berserk him and he does 9999 to almost every enemy, but then again you can do this with many other characters, but I prefer ultima spell than the Ragnarok sword.

[@kelcandi]

Lockes the most overpowered character in the game with valiant knife and atma weapon

[@graham1403]

also put him in the back row and equip him with 2 wing edges / offering / genji glove. wing edge has a chance to instantly kill any non undead enemy or boss, does the same damage as he would on the front row, which makes him super tanky. 8 attacks ensures anything living is dead in the first round.

[@jc.1191]

Him, Terra, and Celes I can get overpowered. And love them all. And Shadow is there too, cause ninjas are cool.

[@kelcandi]

Agreed

[@kelcandi]

Especially when you put Bahamut on and get a lotta HP for him

[@Zhortac]

I mean, Locke can literally be a one man army and do more damage than anyone in the game, but sure...number 10...

[@sladelius6174]

Exactly.

[@youcancallmefunk4745]

Plus he put him ahead of the only guy that can do 80k without a relic equipped and while wearing a shield SMH . But if you are a first time player this order is not bad , but if you are here chances are your not a first time player . Has I am not a first time player myself I find Cyan is the most slept on character maybe in any FF ever They both need to be leveled up while Locke needs 2 relics to achieve 80k Cyan only needs the quick spell. Cyan can also still equip a shield. I prefer to give him marvel shoes (except when a Safety bit/ribbon is needed) and an economizer and he literally destroys everything. In case you didn't realize this set up he can charge to 7 twice while everyone else is paused for 1 mp while having extra defenses regen and haste , even funner when you put him at the bottom and have some one wear the gale hairpin. Did I mention Cyan can achieve 80k without his best weapons from the back row if he's leveled ? Sorry if people are talking about having knowledge of the game why is it that Cyan gets left on the he sucks list? And I know Locke is a beast but side by side they are unstoppable. Funny in a magic dominant game if you have knowledge of the game and are going to level up to god status you can take Locke, Cyan , Edgar and MOG and have a serious demolition crew with Edgar and Mog has dragoons hitting for a possible 40 each turn .

[@playnamz78]

Ok this snes old timer needs some explanations to your comment (I am Locke fanboy), please?

[@youcancallmefunk4745]

@@playnamz78 do you not know how to make him OP ?

[@youcancallmefunk4745]

@@playnamz78 if that's it, start with the relics offering/genji glove then you give him the ultma Sword and the valiant knife . Just make sure you are leveled up and he can do 80k (79,992) in the blink of an eye .... both swords ignore defense and are not reduced by the offering, he is a little squishy but he does so much damage you dont really notice

[@grawlix311]

First, I want to say; all my favorites are the bottom of this tier list!!!! With that said, I’m always interested in seeing why my favorites are someone else’s least favorites. Very interesting points and I respect everything that was said!

[@Shorty_Lickens]

Cyan and Sabin are much more useful in the remakes because their abilities are a LOT easier to use. But in any given game I always have Edgar. His tools are wonderful and theres nothing special you need to do for them, and no downside to using them. Gau I hate because his abilities make him almost useless for the entire fight. I like him better after he gets a bunch of spells and I've boosted his Magic stat with espers. Same with Relm. Mostly useless ability but give her lots of spells and boosted stats and she's OK.

[@jeremiahemery5778]

I played this game on Christmas too when I was a tween. Great game, I love your videos, keep up the great content

[@DaLoveDonkey69420]

Before watching thru yet im commenting right now Sabin is my favorite overall, Personality/Look/Blitz is cool AF.

[@jakerodgers9146]

Huh, you're pushing forty; I really couldn't tell looking at you, I mean you did mention your age occasionally, but who knew your near your forty's. Guess it goes to show how well you have taken care of yourself, inside and out. oh, well keep at it, I guess.

[@micheldwson]

I wager he exercises regularly, gets proper sleep and eats healthy. It’s all you need.

[@jakerodgers9146]

Yes, most likely.

[@mrmacross]

Everyone complains about Cyan's original SwordTech. It had issues, but FF3SNES also gave you the option of pressing the X button to skip between party members, so you could always queue Cyan as last to act. He can charge his meter while everyone else is waiting to attack or is waiting for their ATB to fill. Because you said this list is for first playthroughs, Gau should be ranked lower. Either you get a strategy guide or you spend tons of hours on the Veldt getting rages and testing them. Very few players do the latter, and the former is something a lot of players avoid doing on their first playthrough.

[@pacdiesel6240]

This list is fascinating. Since it's from the perspective of the casual player's first time, I'm very surprised you had Gau so high. I didn't appreciate him until several playthroughs after my first. The brothers at the top makes full sense. Sabin is my favorite character in JRPG history. I get why Edgar is at the top though, the Tools mechanic is incredibly easy for the casual player to dominate the game. Fun list to watch though. FF6 content is always appreciated. :)

[@49erfanaticfromnm30]

Final Fantasy VI -- A Song of Ice (Celes) and Fire (Terra)

[@kissblade8587]

I was a complete FF6 fanatic when I was younger so have my two cents. Except for Umaro, most FF6 characters have their uses and everyone can get ridiculously overpowered thanks to Magacite lvl bonuses. But characters like Cyan can be quite powerful early on because they have defense piercing skills and also some skills like his lvl 4 swordtech can't miss and you can backrow them to make them tankier. If you don't grind and abuse game mechanics, Cyan, Setzer, Locke can be very useful. Similarly, Gau is absolutely nuts early on because you can get him lvl 3 spell rages way earlier than you should have access to them. Gogo's also actually quite terrible! When you get him, he's pretty weak and like you mentioned, if you look at his stats carefully, you'll notice they're awful. He's actually one of the "weakest" non grind characters in a party. Similarly, Terra is much stronger than Celes because her Magic Power is higher and she has Esper form. Celes is more defensive in her stats which isn't that important because spells like Shell exist. I say this even though Celes is my favorite character :(.

[@DaRozeman]

Gau was always my go-to. He can access some freakishly op stuff like Life 3, which puts an auto-res on the target. When they go down, it triggers bringing them back full HP and Mana. And it casts often enough to hit the whole party within a few turns. Great on tough battles and Bosses.

[@FallouFitness_NattyEdition]

I would put Mog higher if his dance ability worked more than 10% of the time. Also, upgrading Gao is a major chore.

[@SeventhheavenDK]

Umaro is always in my main party once I get him, lol. And he crushes everything just fine. My final party is Terra, Locke, Umaro, and Celes.

[@ikesours6558]

Umaro is VERY useful. It's what he brings to the TEAM people miss out on. You never have to worry about him... and even better once he helps you acquire the gem box. Then you have an auto warrior alongside a double mage. Cakewalk.

[@Harie0]

@@ikesours6558 On the flip side he doesn't really worry about you as he throws your characters around like weapons. :)

[@ninten1989]

*RANK* 14) Umaro. Definitely a useless character, with no backstory at all. He's just there. The only reason you have to get him is for the Esper in his cave. 13) Gau. He really is a hard character for me to like... If I get him to the Veldt, he leaps, and comes back with very little amounts of Rage. 12) Shadow. He's practically useless since you almost never see him EVER. And when you do see him on the floating continent and get to the airship early, then get ready to wait for that slowpoke! 11) Setzer. He has an okay backstory and an okay ability, but (like you said) it's easy to get Lagomorph when you use Slots. 10) Mog. You get him not only pretty late in the game, but he has no such backstory. His theme is upbeat, but it's still pretty bland. 9) Strago. Why is it that every time an enemy uses a Lore move on Strago, He has almost no chance of learning? It's hard to like him when he can't learn Lore easily. 8) Locke. Telling him to steal is annoying. His stats are also terrible, but he gets extra points for having a good backstory. It even continues into the World of Ruin, where he's trying to revive Rachel. Locke, get over it. Celes is your new girlfriend. 7) Cyan. His backstory is nice, but using SwordTech takes WAY too long waiting for the ATB bar to fill. But, his other aspects make him better like his stats. 6) Sabin. Again, his Blitz is easy to mess up. But, once you get the hang of it, You can sweep every enemy in the game! Especially since Bum Rush is very overpowered. 5) Celes. She may not have as much as a backstory, But she's easy to use once you learn not to use magic on the turn she Runics. other than that, she's really good and easy to use and overpower enemies with. 4) Gogo. I love this character. Even if you get him SOO Late and he has no backstory, he makes up for that by being able to use almost EVERY SINGLE COMMAND!! But, he's only No. 4. 3) Edgar. His character is hilarious and I was interested by the fact that he was flirting with Terra at the beginning of the game. Edgar saved the party so many times, and He was REALLY easy to help grind. His backstory is not much, but He's still amazing and overpowered. 2) Relm. Who else laughed when she roasted her grandfather? I did! I laughed for So long because of this one little girl. Her Control command is amazing especially when grinding with Tyrannosaurs and Brontosaurs. 1) Terra. Best backstory, best background music, I expected her to be here. She has such an open, nice and friendly personality, and the fact that she told herself those children in Mobliz needed help and decided to help them melted my heart. She is hands-down the character with the most and best personality and my favorite of them all.

[@andrewolivetreemixing]

Umaro saved me on my first play through haha! One of the mini bosses in Kefka's tower killed everyone except Umaro, and he happened to have on armor that absorbed whatever element the boss was using and he slowly beat him by himself haha.

[@yourleftnut814]

Here's a tip. Keep track of the characters' to level exp. Just before they level, equip them with the esper that will raise the desired stats upon leveling.

[@thecardboardstacker]

It's funny, though, I found Setzer's Fixed Dice on my first play through, just by going to Kefka's Tower accidentally. He's still my No. 1.

[@chimeratcg07]

Sabin is the strongest during the World of Ruin and Shadow is a close second, the two strongest characters during the endgame. Edgar is the strongest during the World of Balance no doubt about it.

[@shinvertigo8410]

Definitely agree. Even if you don't remember inputs well, Sabin's strongest Blitz is literally a full circle starting from the left and going counterclockwise around the dpad. May sound kinda complicated, but once you try it it's harder to forget it than it is to remember it.

[@michaelmiller7465]

@@shinvertigo8410 Naw pal, do her right and Terra/Celes can destroy everything. Economizer + Gem box and a pure Magic Power growth will hit all enemies for 9999 twice. Sure, you can Genji glove + offering Sabin so he's hitting 8 times, but the offering lowers overall hit damage, so you won't be hitting 9999. And Sabin is a MAGICAL warrior, so his best weapons don't hold a candle to what Terra and the like can use. Yeah, I used to be a Sabin fanboy too, but once I realized that holding out on leveling until you get a +2 magic esper and only leveling then is the way to max damage, I never looked back. Actually, I did look back and saw a hybrid that needs to specialize rather than be split. In the end, Relm was higher in my list than Sabin, although not as high as Terra/Celes because you get her at a higher level (which means less growth). Also the same reason why Gogo is down with Umaro. You don't get the growth with Gogo, so you can't do 9999 with Ice2 like with the other girls on Dinosaurs.

[@ChaosChronicle]

@@michaelmiller7465 Sabin can literally do the same thing though. All characters outside of Umaro (and Gogo due to lack of stat boosts) can abuse Econ + Gem Box. The real powerhouse is secretly Locke because he can do Offering + Genji Glove paired with Atma Weapon and Valiant Knife, which are the two armor-piercing weapons found in the SNES version (in the GBA you can steal infinite atma weapons, for those not in the know). You can do 9999x8 to anything in the game, regardless of its level/defense, which is scary. Terra/Celes also are beaten out by Strago and Relm in terms of naturally high magic power, so you may consider them better abusers of the X-magic combo.

[@michaelmiller7465]

@@ChaosChronicle Man, now I got to bust out some Locke strats!

[@dialp4penguin]

What makes Shadow strong?

[@ryanschaefer8407]

I must be a rare FF6 unicorn. For one my favorite video game of all time and I demand it is remade before 8, 9, 4, or whatever other votes after 7 wraps. But hilariously my final party insanely often was Sabin (never missed a Blitz in my life even upon game release as an OG fan), Edgar, Gogo because I stumbled into finding him pre internet and to this day think it is the most amazing game secret and I loved tooling him how I wanted to spam blitz/tools/rage/magic, and yes, I must be the only one who loved using Umaro in my primary party! Blizzard Orb!!! Haha I didn’t mind lack of control. I never min/max stats, never leaned on magic as much as most or used summons or level up bonuses to break the game. Hell I don’t think I have done the grind for the paladin shield but once and I have replayed the game easily 20 times on every system. I also seem to have been one of the rare people to intentionally see all ‘desperation’/limit breaks. For all the game breaking exploits mentioned in stat manipulations and or equipment combos I am surprised no one mentioned the game breaking vanish/doom or x-zone combo! Haha some may call it cheating but bleh, beats keeping low level the whole game to grind a min/max. :P. Best game of all time. This video has me wanting to boot the SNES mini and try a min/max run and hell maybe not stroll through the fanatics tower to the very top with the moogle charm. ;)

[@tinytrashcan2840]

Ugh it always broke my heart as a kid that Setzer's character was this awesome free spirit, wealthy gambler but he was just so meh in battle. Weak weapons, unpredictable special move, and poor defense. It's really hard to choose when you get to a certain point in the roster but I think my #1 is definitely Celes. Rune stinks but it was cool to see a female character with some brute strength for a change, and proficient with magic. Plus when I was 9 playing this for the first time I would always name her after my 4th grade crush. Ahhhh nerdy childhood memories! 😂

[@PraetorFenix]

That's like, your opinion man. Seriously tho, i don't think i ever used Umaro, gau or mog on my first playthrough, i don't like not having control. Gau is a beast, but you have to be really invested to notice it. Also, i hate relm's personality so she's dead last in my list. I always liked Celes, terra, Locke, the brothers and shadow. I really liked the idea of cyan but yeah, his ability was not great so i didn't use him that much.

[@xenxander]

For Gau, the rage "IO" is one of the best. It has flare star.

[@crosswalkX]

Did you have spend hours on the Veldt using Leap command to have him learn it? For me I'd rather use Gogo instead of Gau. Or better yet equip one of my other characters like Terra with Genji Glove with Offering relic to attack 8 times. I don't like that Gau goes berserk just like Umaro and I bench him out with Umaro.

[@catcat5564]

@@crosswalkX just get terra ultima from ragnorok or leveling, celestriad, and soul of thamasa and she does aoe 20000 dmaage at lvl 50

[@TheFeintNASS]

Strago lacks power, but his lores are so good. Big Guard is amazing, Grand Train does hit like a truck, and he's just the old homie. My team WAAAAAY back in the day was Edgar, Relm, Strago and Shadow.

[@marcusblack99]

Edgar was always my favourite character right from he joined my party at the start of the game he is just awesome

[@briansmith8361]

His woman chasing is good for a few laughs as well!

[@marcusblack99]

@@briansmith8361 yeah true haha I'm doing another replay now I still love him he's my main character of the game

[@jsebastian9547]

...yeah, I get it on the blitzes... but my nugga Sabin can suplex a goddamn train. Can you suplex a train ? I didn't think so. Boo !

[@youcancallmefunk4745]

Why is cyan so slept on, even when I played it the first time i noticed when you put him at the top and got a surprise attack I had enough time to charge the first quadra attack before the rest of the squad was ready for round 2, plus the first time I took the gauntlet and gave it to him and spammed dispatch (the first 1 and you could cast) , which is just has effective from the back row. Then when I got older I learned to just level his attack to around 110 (no gear ) then shelf him till I could raise his speed and then giving him the quick spell ,quick spell negates the wait on the timer has it gives you the next two turns no matter what when cast ,and put him at the bottom and watch him decimate during the end game

[@killerb255]

The problem is that everything that can be done to mitigate Cyan’s weaknesses can be used to make another character even better.

[@youcancallmefunk4745]

@@killerb255 This game any one can become OP (Umaro and GoGo not so much) . Personally the way I see it with this and most games , the noob , the veteran and the pro thing applies in the way that at the noob stage you just kinda do the what appears to be best (newer is always better thought) And without paying attention to the stat boosting you end up with a Cyan that cant keep up . Then the vet , now you figured out that magic is king so that's it for physical boosting and with cyan being so far behind it gets him left behind (although if you magic build him ,a pair of tempest swords are pretty nice for random battles) then when you get that I'm a pro at this game point you realize if your going for any challenge in the game it has to be the low level challenge, cus any one of the boostable characters can be disgustingly OP if you level them rite and a pair of running shoes and the quick spell are game changers ,cyan when leveled right can do 80k before an enemy gets a turn and he's somehow considered bottom tier. Quick question how many characters in the game can do 80k while holding a shield and have both relic slots available?

[@ethicaltechnical]

Setzer gogo cyan and sabin were my go to as a kid. But at that age I just went with who looked the coolest. Same reason I played as Vincent in ff7. Hes arguably dogshit but he was my favorite character lol

[@thepaper888]

I had ffvi on ps1 and never finished, I'm about to get it on ps3 eshop. So I'm like what, when you day you've beaten it over and over. It seems so intimidating

[@moonlight2870]

I'm gonna talk about each character as they appear in the game. Terra: easily the strongest character in the game. Has access to amazing equipment with the minerva bustier and the lightbringer, it's solid on both magic and strength, and her morph is a boss destroyer. She starts off a bit slow, but not terribly so, as she's the only character in the game with access to magic that early on, and she's avaible through pretty much the whole game. Excellent character. Locke: He's actually a solid charcter in the world of ruin. In the world of balance he's avarage at best. His weapons are far from impressive and steal is pretty useless in this game. But in the world of ruin with access to the lightbringer and the valiant knife, as well as the master scroll, he can do some solid damage. He's just boring. Edgar: He's the opposite to locke. In the world of ballance, he's a god. Unrivaled. His tools are strong, free, and require no command. But later on, their base power is just not enough. Thankfully he has access to the dragoon set up or an enhancer and spells. Sadly, he is outclassed by pretty much everyone else. Sabin: he is pretty good. His blitzes are very powerful through the entire game. But he has some problems. For starters, he has amazing strenght and poor magic. However, most of his blitzes are magic based, so he'll require some investment with espers. Also, his equipment is far from optimal, especially since most of his weapons are strenght based. But still, almost nothing comes even close to a bum rush, if you can nail the commands, that is. Shadow: shadow is pretty solid. Has good evasion and access to a reliable source of damage with his throw ability, bot physical and magical. Plus his unique counters with interceptor are very good, if unreliable. Sadly, shadow is unavailable through most of the world of balance, and could even die before the world of ruin if you don't know what you're doing. That really hinders his position on my list. Cyan: no reason beating around the bush, cyan sucks. His bushido commabds are very good, but take forever to charge. He will probably be relagated to just using dispatch forever. And no, wind god Cyan is not a viable alternative. Windslash is a magical based ability and cyan's magic is dogshit. Don't even try it past the world of balance. Gau: easily the best character in the game, just like terra. Even if you don't diversify with his rages, just using stray cat, or even any random rage he comes with, it's already pretty good. Celes: she's Terra light. She has the exact same equipment pool, similar stats, with slightly better strenght but slightly worse magic, not enough to be noticeable, but still, and pretty good availability, being mandatory in some of the largest portions of the game. However, Runic is so inferior to morph that Celes has to come just below Terra. Setzer: he is pretty mediocre through most of the game. He's a lot like Locke, actually, with decent strenght, poor weapons and a kinda useless command. Slots is better than steal, but setzer's weapons are worse than Locke's, so it evens out. However, in the world of ruin, with access to the loaded dice and the master scroll, he becomes pretty powerful. And since loaded dice are not affected by strength, you can easily lever setzer in magic and give him some utility spells while missing none of his damage. He's decent, overall. Strago: he's...ok? Blue magic is always pretty good in final fantasy, and his methods to learn them are a lot easier than in final fantasy 5, so that's nice. I don't have a whole lot of bad stuff to say about him, only that his magic stat is underwhelming compared to the other mages in the game. Relm: this little girl is surprisingly good. Sketch is...sketchy *badumtsss*, so you'll rarely use it,but she has the best magic stat in the game, plus access to some of the best magic-increasing equipment, like the magus rod and the cat ear hood. She can be eaily as powerful as Terra and Celes. Still, she's no match to morph, and even runic can be more useful than sketch. But control has it's uses if you're willing to sacrifice a relic slot. Mog: Mog is sadly not very good. His dances are like a more unreliable Gau rage, that you can't actually choose what dance you want without a chance of failure and it has 4 potential moves instead of 2. He can jump if you want to, but he's better as a mage than a fighter. So it's kinda hard to know what to do with him. Umaro: no espers, poor equipment and not very good abilities. At best ge's a worse gau. A MUCH worse Gau. Bench him. Gogo: he's actually pretty good. He has no access to espers, which makes his stats pretty bad, but the only thing better than a bum rush or a ultima, is two bum rushes or ultimas. Imp: not really a character, but the Imp equipment can be a nice solution for weaker characters like Cyan or Mog, along with dragon boots and horn. Plus it makes so those charcters don't compete for better equipments, like force armors and thunder shields.

[@dragames]

I agree with a lot of this list.But... a few places I disagree. I can't believe someone who... reviews rpgs thinks EDGAR is the OP character in 6. Edgar gets so easily outclassed pretty early, even before the WoR. Tools have good bases, shitty scaling unlike most other characters. His dragoon setup is actually better on Mog who has better stats and more utility. Mog- On the other hand, is actually a good contender for #1 position because of his dances. In most stages of the game, his dances will wreck havoc. Like the floating continent where the game has its first true difficulty spike, Earth Blues will one shot pretty much everything, or at least full heal you and then one shot the next turn. There's a few other places Mog continues this trend and his STARTING stats are enough to manipulate the field, so you don't need to pump up his magic. Oh, on that note, Mog is a TANKY feckin caster without any esper training and his availability is pretty good for leveling with +2 stat level ups so that he can blow things up better on the magic front. He also has comparable strength to Edgar so if taken the dragoon route, Mog is just going to be tankier, able to switch over to magic, be able to equip the moogle charm, and still be able to Dance in the fields he OHKO's everything. Celes- Her availability is what puts her over the top. She has the best availability in the game at the perfect time to use Esper stat farming so she can actually max out all the stats. Runic isn't useless, but the problem is that a lot of fights where it's useful you can also just power on through. If the game made OHKO magic more prevalent or say two-four enemies that all cast ultima and you needed one runic to absorb at least one to prevent even a max stat group from dying, it'd be fantastic, but it really only sees use in glitchless speedruns where some bosses will kill you with magic because you've not leveled enough to have enough base health. Is she #1? No, but she's close, and better off than Terra because of her lack of availability and morph is just not useful most of the time and definitely not late game. (If you're playing on the SNES, morph also delays your own team's attacks so it actually hurts you more because they are trying a weird ATB to compensate for her ATB's removal for a 'morph bar' so enemies get more turns.) Strago- his point is that per spell power vs mana cost. His spells cost low mana, but do the same as a more mana costly Magic spell. And of course, the weird effects he can do nobody else can do. His usefulness runs out once you get a Celestiad so anyone else can use magic for 1mp. It is a shame his stats are awful. Gogo- Actually is really bad. Even using him for bum rush doesn't help too much when his stats are godawful He can't do anything else. I guess the good thing is he takes no training because he knows what magic your team knows, and knows what moves are in a skillset for everyone else. He just doesn't do any of them that well. You try making him heal your party? Nope, it's gonna suck. He also comes as the weakest defensively and there's nothing you can do about it.

[@moonlight2870]

@@dragames it's hard to argue that Edgar is not the most powerful chatacter before the magitec research facility. His tools are easily one shotting randoms at no cost from the backrow ehen all you get is Terra casting fire and Locke attacking shit. After you can start teaching magic to people and enemies start getting tougher, he lags behind fast, and that's sad, but at the beginning he deserves the praise he gets. Celes is top tier material, and I did mention how she is mandatory in large portions of the game...but she's still weaker than Terra, ever so slightly. And yeah,Mog's dances are great...when he is tumbling around and wasting a turn. And even when it does work, it is very powerful and costs nothing, which is good, but unreliable. Ofteb he'll just use sun bath when you're at full health or use cockatrice when you needed a windslash. At least witg Gau there's a 50/50 chance of him doing what you want, and even if he doesn't, he just attacks.

[@moonlight2870]

@@dragames also I never said anything bad about Strago, so I don't see your point

[@dragames]

@@moonlight2870 I didn't say you said strago was bad, but that's really the only reason he's good early is for the lower mp cost of blue magic. Tumbling for mog is only an issue when trying to use Water Rondo as the other places I mentioned you don't have stumble chance. The reason it's important to note Celes availability is because she gets a lot of levels Terra doesn't with espers which pushes her stats above Terra considerably unless you purposely avoid stat up levels.

[@SeventhheavenDK]

I agree more with your list than with the video's one, especially with Terra. Once I get Umaro he is always in my party, and he does just fine, I even bring him into Cyan's dream. He obliterates enemies especially with the Rage Orb and the attacks he gets with are really powerful, Storm (his only spell) is good too, and he also has a very powerful attack that damages enemies and at the same time awakens sleeping members. Sometimes I think that people don't even use him and they just bench him without knowing his true potential.

[@bishopthefool]

I disagree with about everything you said there... but still a great video. psssst... Relm should be #1...

[@blakecabral2661]

I was lucky enough to find Gogo on my first playthroughs since I voluntarily got eaten by the monster since I thought there was a dungeon like Jabu Jabu from Ocarina of Time since when eaten your party didn’t die, and I was surprised to be correct! Probably the best feeling in the game though was finding Gogo, since I was expecting just a dragon, the pan to his description plus naming was out of left field and he’s probably my favorite character in the game

[@sirundying]

same

[@ThePikachunianRebel]

When I get Gogo, he's taking on the name Vivi. Awesome FF universe name. Just that those guards are so tough to get past...

[@cloudstrife8]

Locke being so low is a travesty...but I agree Edgar is a monster.

[@hugbuzzard]

Honestly, you can find strengths for all the characters in certain situations. I’ve beaten this game at least 50 times since it’s release. I started doing different character combinations just to see. They can be awesome, even Umaro if you know when/how to use them. I gotta say though, Sabin is by far the best character in the game. All his blitz moves are magic based so throw double earrings on him and it’s game over. He’s tank as is and string fighter so he’s great from the beginning to end. Love you videos keep it up David!

[@badchadb33]

Sabin's always been my favorite as well.

[@olcloudy1618]

Terra Loche Shadow Mog Just equip them correctly and they are unstoppable

[@SirVyre]

Whoa whoa whoa, nothing outstanding about Locke? Whoa whoa whoa, a qualifier about, "This is a list for a first playthrough." but then considering characters that rely on meta knowledge over those who don't OTL Daaaaaavid! Ok, I'll give you my list. 14. Relm - Her personal skill is bugged and can ruin your game cart. No time for growths, but if it's a first playthrough you maybe don't mind grinding, depends on who you are as a person, so won't mention it much. Her good magic power doesn't make up for her other weaknesses. 13. Setzer - Yeah I don't like rigging his slots either, and on a first play you ain't gonna know about Fixed Dice. I edge him over Relm cause you get him sooner in both worlds, he's required to beat the game, and he has a good equipment draw. 12. Cyan - Swdtech is bad from a time perspective, his speed is low, magic is low, and ways you could make up for these can also be applied equally to other people. 11. Umaro - No growths, but a first playthrough might not even notice or optimize magic stat growths... or invest in ones that are bugged, like stamina. This instantly makes him better than Cyan, in every department except Magic, but you need someone to attack. Interestingly, I've never thought to use him in Cultist's Tower. Equip with a Gauntlet and Black Belt, and he will whoop ass. Oh and he naturally absorbs Ice and takes 0 from Fire elements iirc. It's been a long time though, maybe I remember wrong. 10. Gau - Great if you luck into learning one of his powerful rages, which isn't hard to do, even on a first playthrough. But the curiosity around his Rages will depend on you as a person, and honestly, I think most people tap out the first time he uses an element on something that absorbs said element, and then you either kill him or get soft locked into a reset. On the brightside he can learn magic and be controlled directly for that, and with his high speed and decent magic power, he can be a handy mage. 9. . Mog - His dances are so powerful in the WoB that you're likely to use him, and want him back immediately in WoR. Unfortunately his dances suffer in WoR, and on a first playthrough you're liable to miss gettting Water Rondo. His low strength makes Dragoonboots usage sort of meh for him. 8. Strago - because he comes with spells, and even without learning any of his other Blue Magic, Aqua Rake can hold you over till you learn magicite spells, which will hold you over until his personal quest with Hidon and Grand Trine. I wish Blue Magic didn't require such meta knowledge. I think its best implementation was in FFXI online, and that literally broke the entire MMO. 7. Terra - Her magic is natural. She is powerful. Doesn't get to go through a good portion of the WoB though. Her personal skill is ultimately useless, as if you focus up her stats, Morphing can't break the damage cap. Before then it's useful on bosses, but it has never made or broke whether I win or lose. 6. Celes - Edges out Terra by having more availability. Also Runic is better than Morph, since it's pretty much required for doing battle with Tunnel Armor and Kefka at Narshe if you haven't leveled up that much. Runic has other niche uses, and something A LOT of people seem to forget is that she absorbs the spells as MP, so it restores her MP for free, and while it still doesn't break the game, at least it is always useful if you're using it for its intended purpose. Does suck that she absorbs your own teams spells, though you could view that as a weird way to give her MP back from a weaker MP character... all this RUnic goodness assuming you don't just learn the mighty Osmose spell.... yeah OTL 5. Gogo - Jack of all trades, literally, master of none. I love being able to double up on abilities even if he's weaker. Leveling up will mostly fix that due to how damage is calculated, making leveling up the most significant gain you can achieve anyway. Having a second Blitz, Throw, Tools, and any spell that anyone else already learned is just 100% good shit. He only barely edges out the magical girls in my mind because their personal skills are meh. 4. Sabin - Blitzes are extremely powerful. However, even when you know how to input them, sometimes the controller takes an input the wrong way. My brother taught me how to use his Blitzes when I was about 12. Before then I just slapped Genji Glove on him, and gave him Tiger Fang/Dragon Claw... this actually turns into a better solution for bosses the more you grind his Vigor, but on a first playthrough you're unlikely to do that. Fire Dance rocks WoB, as does Aurabolt, and Pummel and Suplex are easy inputs that do well too, though they don't sweep the screen. 3. Edgar - Tools are OP in WoB. Even if you miss out on the Flash tool from Figaro after Narshe, the Bio Blaster and Auto Crossbow can make up for it. Drill is OP. Chainsaw is OK, if the Instant Death effect didn't try to trigger on bosses I'd love it even more... Easy to use, so they never screw up, unless you select the wrong tool, which you can also just discard or sell. Not in the top cause his Tools power starts to lag behind in WoR, but his good equipment draw, and high screen time in both worlds makes up for it. 2. Locke - He''s not number 1, because honestly for most of the game, his only real battle option is fight, and his magical power is sort subpar, and he won't have the equipment he needs to claim this spot for a good long time. You want to focus on his Vigor anyway, but that might not be apparent to a first timer. Once you get him back in WoR he instantly becomes an insane physical powerhouse though. Better than anyone else in the game, and this is due to his equipment draw. Being able to wield both the Atma Weapon and the Valiant Knife means that he can Genji Glove + Offering(Master Scroll in later translations), and do 8 hits that ignore defence. Each weapon also offsets the downside of the other, and once he's in the mid 40s/50s if you get that high, he can kill most of the final bosses in a single use of X Fight. Even before then in the high 20s/30s, the damage from his X Fight puts every other damage option to shame. 1. Shadow - There's a reason his use is limited in the WoB. Throw is OP. He's around for the part of Sabin's scenario that matters. He's optional, sure, but why wouldn't you opt in to using him? Interceptor counters are unique to him, again stupidly powerful. He is also fast with decent magic power. The second time he's available may not appeal or may not be apparent to a first timer, sadly, but that is a time he could use elemental skeans which don't really shine right then, but imagine if you could take him to the Magitek Research Facility with Bolt Skeans though. Best of all Throw scales with Level and Stats far better than Edgar's Tools. Even at relatively low levels, in the WoR he can throw elemental swords, and while that relies to some extent on meta knowledge, even just using Ninja Stars it's quite easy to surpass 4~5k damage. At the highest level, Genji glove will supplant throw on Single Targets, but not for multi targeting, just like Edgar's Tools. The only real downside is it consumes items, but items are there to be consumed. He's available "early" in the WoR, assuming you waited for him. God, you've better have waited for him. Lastly, you do come by the occasional Tack Star. These will do close to max damage even at stupidly low levels. If you could use Shadow for the whole game, you would, and that's why his availability is low and optional.

[@dragames]

Few problems. 1) Mog isn't that weak on strength either. He has the highest overall stats (though on the SNES port doesn't mean anything because of the stamina bug, but the GBA version it definitely shows if you try to stat-max, he can do it easily and most characters can't.) Mog's also really the only way to do full AoE damage as his AoE moves do not suffer the split damage penalty and don't take into consideration enemy mdefense. Where he shines for dancing especially. The floating continent- earth blues either full heals or OHKO's all the monsters. Extremely broken. Any flying fight- Wind Rhapsody. Same thing as Earth blues on the floating continent, but instead of a OHKO, it's just heavy AoE damage that MAY OHKO, but might need two turns to do it or ally assist. Water Rondo for not having a native terrain advantage, if you can't use the above two in theirs, Water Rondo is the best one. El Nino/Plasma are both extremely hard hitting, Raccoon heals the party nearly to full as well as ALL status ailments. There's a very slim chance to use apparition which is the only thing useless in this dance, but it's a small chance compared to the massive damage potential it has even without building up Mog's Magic stat (but if you do it's one of the quickest ways to hit an early 9,999, it's damage is better than a tack star.) 2) Gogo doesn't get fixed by levels, you might want to reread the formulas for FF6 again, one level with a +1 magic or strength does more for damage than the level up factor. The only really good use for Gogo is blitz for bum rush because it's ridiculously strong that it doesn't matter how low his stats are and steal because....steal don't care about your stats either. Everything else, he either lacks the stats to make it do more than a tickle or can't equip the weapon to allow him to use it.

[@SirVyre]

@@dragames 1) Look at Mog's starting Vigor. It's 29. That is low. To physically spec for Mog it takes more Vigor ups than anyone else that it would make sense to physical spec, to ultimately do less damage than anyone else is capable of. His Dances are prone to stumble and waste his turn if there's a terrain mismatch. He won't use what you want him to, when you need him to. He's a bit of a gamble, but it's not like FF6 is some hard game in need of minmaxing. Since he won't always do that attack, its inconsistency makes it inferior to pretty much every thrown weapon, which all reach maximum damage or close to it, beyond a certain Vigor and level range. 2) Gogo won't ever out damage anybody else who's built, but since he automatically learns all spells of the other members of your party, and he can make use of any skill, it makes him a more useful party member than just about any preceding member. Particularly if they hinge on chance, rather than consistency. You can get Merit Award and make him use anything from the Coliseum, but won't know that likely on a first playthrough, but the skills that are tied to restrictions like that are generally bad i.e. Swdtech. He may also directly mimic spells for free, allowing him to cast Ultima, Merton, Meteor, or any other high power, high cost spell for no cost save waiting in the turn order.

[@SeventhheavenDK]

So, are we talking about a first playthrough or not? In a first playthrough I don't think you will break the gap, Morph will always be more useful than Runic. Runic is very useless, and aside of the time you are told to use it, I am very sure that especially for a first game nobody will even use it. Morph gets better and better as Terra's level progresses. And to be honest, even for a more experience player I still find Morph more useful than Runic. About Umaro, you need to equip him with the Blizzard Orb to absorb ice, and with the Rage Orb to nullify fire.

[@countquackula8539]

Pushing 40 wtf 😳......for some reason I thought you were much younger.

[@mopbrothers]

Yeah the Figaro Brothers are extremely OP, especially Edgar. It's almost unfair. One slices and dices with a chainsaw and the other can suplexes trains. Love this game.

[@thefreelancequeen]

Their magic stats are pretty good too. Not the best of the non-magic centered characters but still useful.

[@blutek8989]

Edgar and cyan tear shit up early game

[@robertwhaley1986]

Only rdeeming quality about Umaro is, he is best used in fanatic tower.

[@acidwizard6528]

This is my all-time favorite videogame. I've played through it countless times, experimenting with different characters, glitching the game by sketching Gau when he returns from the Veldt, Soloing parts of the game with various characters etc. I disagree with some of the placements and agree with others. Locke should be higher due to his ability to steal unique super powerful items, Shadow is a beast due to Interceptor blocking attacks and countering with insane early game damage as well as his ability to hit elemental weaknesses early in the game before magic is readily available. Later in the game he is still really good as his thrown shurikens and such easily top out at 9999 damage. Terra is better than Celes IMO as the only significant difference between them is their special ability and Celes' s Runic sucks while the increased damage from Terra's Esper transformation is one of the best and remains useful through the end of the game. Gau is a turd and belongs near the bottom. The Veldt is annoying and incredibly time consuming. Any character in this game can become super powerful if you grind with them strategically using Esper level up bonuses, so spending a lot of time grinding on the Veldt to make Gau useful could be better spent on a superior character. The Figaro brothers are tops and I don't think anyone is arguing that.

[@philpie2998]

You're crazy. Terra and Celes are super powerful. Gogo is not great....

[@chicopreto9673]

Man,Cyan is so underrated

[@crosswalkX]

I agree, I like Cyan even more than Gau and Umaro.

[@FerDeLance06]

Relm is another underrated one. I tend to use her a lot in the Colosseum; her safety ring with a ribbon and the paladin shield makes her literally bullet-proof and she just lawnmowers her way through opponents ... WHEN she can tear herself away from fart-arsing around casting cure spells on herself!

[@nikolaikolev8252]

Cyan on number 12? Wtf! The stupid mog and gogo are over freaking Cyan!

[@06hatter]

you owning cyan by calling him mr. thou makes me love you

[@ndralcasid]

If we are going by your criteria of a normal first-run playthrough, I don't agree with Gau being that high. Gau is great, but he is most definitely more of a second-playthrough character. It's near impossible to get the best mileage out of him the first time around unless you are using a guide.

[@matthewmidigi4903]

Thanks for giving Gau the love. He's my favorite character in the game, and one of my favorites in the entire series!

[@ThewOrldIssqUare]

Same!

[@chadfalardeau3259]

The only problem with Gau is all the grinding to get his Rages

[@crosswalkX]

I refuse to give Gau the love, I don't like his Rage berserk command, it's literally a pain in the butt to learn all of the rage moves, Good Lord it takes hours to get his good moves and it's a waste of my time. Gau is better off as an Imp fighter or Magic user and I'll bench him with Umaro at Kefka's Tower and replace him with Cyan, Setzer, Relm or Gogo anytime. It's too bad because I would've liked using Gau had the Squaresoft, Square-Enix developers not given him that awful Leap command and restrict him to learn monster moves on Veldt. If I could fix Gau's commands, I would get rid of Gau's stupid Leap command and reprogram him to give him a Fight command and Rage and have him learn monster moves with every monsters defeat he encounters. Then I would give him a chance. But the way he was originally programmed, not a chance.

[@crosswalkX]

@@chadfalardeau3259 I agree with you. I absolutely dislike Gau's Leap move, it takes too long to get Gau's Rage moves and the main reason why I bench Gau, besides that I replace Gau with someone else like Gogo, Cyan, Setzer, Relm instead.

[@briansmith8361]

Me go to funeral? Classic line!

[@Kaegro]

I disagree with this list. Strago is too low on the list and Mog/Gau are way too high

[@cocomunga]

When I was a kid I never used Setzer because his portrait makes him look like a zombie. Years later, I like him more. He is worth leveling to make fixed dice better at the end of the game. By leveling him, you get a character with a good regular attack, as well as a lot of magic.

[@omegaweapon116]

I just got through beating the game for the 5th time in my life, and I finally see how good Setzer is. Yea, his in-game portrait sucks lol

[@InvertedWIng]

If you're ranking these characters based on how a casual player would experience them, then Gau should be near the bottom of the list. Getting his abilities requires excessive grinding on the Veldt ("grinding" being something of an oxymoron in this case because you don't get any experience in it). Getting the rages you want is down to pure RNG, and the further you advance into the story, the harder it'll be to get those rages due to the ever-expanding pool of enemies. And you won't know what rages are actually worth it without going through hours of experimentation. Gau also has no Attack command, so you're going to lose control of him unless you play him as a pure mage, and his magic sucks. Gau is only useful if you actually know all the game's inner workings AND you're willing to grind with him, neither of which describes a casual player at all. Otherwise, he's a half-step above Umaro.

[@biggsg1934]

Even though Setzer is my favorite character, and the one character that never left my party in any play through, I figured he'd be lower on the list. But I've always loved the Gambler archetype, as my favorite in FF7 is Cait Sith.

[@hailmerry6827]

Setzer actually can be broken with dualwield and the death chance darts really good to grind

[@SaviorGabriel]

I must be the only person in the world who thinks Umaro wasn't a bad character. I remember having him in my main party my first time through, and never really found the lack of control to be any liability for me. He was raw, untamed power, and I guess that's all I ever really needed out of him. If nothing else, he was always very handy for the coliseum. :P

[@theleftfootedsultan]

He’s underrated for value too. He picks up one of your characters and throws them at the enemy for massive damage. Come on, how can you not love it?

[@willchurch8376]

Yeah, I agree. Like, oh no, the game auto picks the fight command for me, instead of letting me do it myself!

[@neonflashsparkotron5435]

Personality wise, Edgar sucks. Hes a creep later through the story

[@luciusirving5926]

The matches the pompous, egotistical king facade as his animated RabToons counterpart.

[@begjon13]

Recently started replaying on the SNES Classic (thanks for the extra time COVID-19) My ranking: 15. Setzer - tough to use well, works best as a support player if you *have* to use him. 14. Angela - I would rather use this whip weilding character that was supposed to have some kind of relationship with Cyan (seriously) who was discarded during game development for not being interesting enough than Setzer. 13. Umaro - same reasons you gave, though he can be effective with his artifacts. **From here on up are the characters I would actually use. 12. Gogo - High-powered, but in story terms incredibly boring. 11. Terra - Yes, she drives a lot of the early story, but I never really like her so much as feel sorry for her. And Morph? ugh 10. Strago - Same reasons he's lower on your list, plus he's a bit slow. 9. Mog - Awesome as a dragoon, cute as a button, and the dances were always fun. If more controllable and more personality, he'd probably be higher. 8. Relm - I never appreciated sketch/control and she's weak physically, but I didn't realize she's got the naturally highest magic stat, and I plan to try to utilize that more this time through. She may jump in rank a lot after that. 7. Cyan - Like him as a character, but his being super slow always put me off. Discovered a solution in the form of the Black Belt which has really upped his utility as "the tank" this time through. Now if I just had a second Genji Glove . . . 6. Gau - My least favorite for my first several play-thrus. Scoring new Rages is now fun to me, and he is frankly REALLY GOOD in combat between his speed and rages. I sent him off on his own during the defense of Narshe yesterday and he CRUSHED it, plus so much fun as a character. 5. Sabin - I think I have a better Blitz success rate than you, but a dropped bum's/phantom rush at the wrong time can be devastating. He's pretty fast, but not the fastest, and, again, it doesn't matter if you drop a blitz. 4. Edgar - is so key in the World of Balance where tools give him a HUGE edge. Not as much so in WoR. Pairs well with Locke using Noiseblaster to facilitate stealing, and control the board (paired them at Narshe yesterday and they CRUSHED the Rider w/o help, plus I walked off with a Mithril Vest). Still, he's a great anchor character especially on split maps. Like his personality a bit more than his brother's, and tools are more reliable than blitz, so he ranks higher for me. 3. Shadow - fascinating backstory, awesome striker, decent with magic once he can get it, plus his Throw command and Interceptor are phenomenal. Also, he's fast. 2. Celes - One of the most powerful magic users AND fighters. Yeah, Runic is lame later on, but there are plenty of times in the earlier game where it is essential. Amazing characterization and development over the course of the game. Not gonna' lie, I crush hard for Celes, and ship the beejezus out of her and Locke. 1. Locke - To me, he's the most likeable character in any FF game. He's the heart of the group, and the character I instantly found myself identifying with. His steal ability remains useful through the entire game, he tends to level-for-level have higher HP even before magicite bonuses, he's pretty good with both magic and attacks, is decent at evading enemies, AND is so fast that he can often act do what needs doing without much ado.

[@davidvinc]

Wait, Angela?? Who’s that? Do you have more information on her?

[@begjon13]

@@davidvinc Sure. I literally learned this myself in the last 36 hours: kotaku.com/final-fantasy-vi-once-had-a-character-named-angela-and-1789432454 Loved the video, BTW. I think the ensemble cast, and the fact that we can all have our own favorites is one of the most wonderful things about this, my all-time favorite game.

[@davidvinc]

Fascinating read! Thanks so much for that article!!

[@iamthem.a.n.middleagednerd1053]

Dude, Give Terra another shot. Morph kicks ass and gets better the higher her level. Also, you can't use it all the time, silly but it really is a necessity when you fight Kefka.

[@begjon13]

@@iamthem.a.n.middleagednerd1053 Oh my order has DEFINITELY changed during this replay both in terms of who I like as characters, and who I like for gameplay reasons. I can no longer stand Gogo, and have found myself suprrised to like Terra much more in gameplay, with Setzer and Cyan both climbing the charts overall (Offering + Dice!).

[@Antnj81]

I'm shocked that Locke wasn't number 10. Other than mug, he doesn't really offer much to the party

[@brianyoung9806]

Mog deserves more respect! Moogle raids, his strength as a dragoon, and his ability to hit 255 defence with a snow muffler. A broken character! For those of you looking for the best candidate for the coliseum- I suggest not teaching Cyan any magic at all, and using the Raiden esper to level him up and boost his strength. He will hit hard, and quick will be his only magic. He can equip what is needed to handle all status effects as well, where Umaro can’t.

[@begjon13]

Great idea! Thanks. I've had a terrible habbit on previous play-thrus of teaching everybody ALL the magic, and it's just unnecessary grinding.

[@LoganRaspa]

same fear of messing up a blitz with Sabin, but I think I equipped Genji Glove and Blackbelt. yeah? haha when i realized Gau and Gogo where in the top i screamed, lol. Great video and I'm with ya. Umaro was a character to fill in your team at the end. I'm impressed to learn that Mog could do more. I feel like my ending team was Edgar, Saban, Locke and Celes. Good to know that Relm is more powerful. I'm a causal player and just saw it's now on steam

[@LoganRaspa]

oh man I made some FFVI inspired nostalgia music, its on my channel.

[@HunterSkowronPDX]

How dare you put setzer so high on this list

[@EvilWeiRamirez]

I played this game completely different than you. I just went all in on speed and vigor. Locke and shadow have great speed. Sabin, cyan, and others have great vigor. Celes has great offensive options. I never liked Edgar that much except in the early game. I just spammed fight. The characters that I could get the base fight damage highest were my favorites. I ignored basic altogether and just used espers for stats to boost. Ifrit and Bismarck early, and Odin and i forget later on. Was super fun. Anyway, tower of fanatics was fun because I just kept casting berserk on my own characters and destroying everything.

[@dankdilly]

I have this game but havent played it yet. I think this is the one with 2 player capability right!? Anyway Setzers slots makes me think of how broken Selphie was in ff8 and coincidentally she was my favorite in that game. You could open the playstation and nothing would move but her slots and if she is the only one alive she could use "the end" which is the iconic flower field and they would disintegrate! Lol. I typed too much!

[@willus08]

Yes it is the one with 2 players although it is really player1 controls all overworld movement and the top 2 chars in batle and player2 controls the bottom 2 chars in combat. As for the slots you could get something like Selphies "the end" but with Setzer you can get a thing where it wipes the party instead so it has more risk.

[@brinstarmedia1411]

For me anyone that can equip Atma Weapon with the offering and black belt automatically goes to the top of the list

[@jc.1191]

Celes Terra and Locke for me. Plus they're the ones I like the most, but Shadow is included there.

[@MetalGearRaxis]

Terra not being number one is a fucking joke.

[@z3ll58]

I respect your choices but would make a few adjustments. Umaru has an additional use, the colosseum. Having only a few moves means he will keep attacking in matchups. Mog would swap with Locke Realm would be #1 Terra would be #2 her transform depends on how many magic points you have earned since last transformation. Edgar would be #3 Gau would be much lower for me because I don’t have the patience. But what I love about this game is that there is so much variety in the characters and the developers don’t hit you over the head with who you should use. By far my favorite RPG.