Does anybody remember the optimal play order?

[ICountFrom0]

I remember that you want to save one of the characters for last because they are just better at winning against the true final boss... I don't remember who though.

Was it taking blue last, going through the vampire sidequest to drain them to 1 LP, and then intentionally losing to his other self to have both the best items and combined magic, or was there something even more broken for the true final boss?

[ZeiruG]

I think your memory holds true. Rouge is unquestionably the strongest character in the game with a party (otherwise I guess Al-Kaiser?) once you do the proper set-up with Blue. This is also the same Main I take to the "Dream Team" secret battle.

[Auspice]

Blouge is the strongest character in the game during the Blue story, but the goal should probably be to go to 2nd Div with everyone and explore there.

That being said, this assumes overdrive/stasisrune cheese

[Intra]

Blue is without question the single strongest character in the game. Overdrive / ShadowServant / Reviva / Sacrifice / Tower and whatever the hell else you want to bring. No need for MindHeal or a Backpack when he's got Reviva: you can just use SnakeOil for a slot to activate Overdrive. So that leaves three slots. You can make him massacre AOE all enemies with MegaWindBlast, use single target OHKO with TimeEclipse, or even tap into his WP every once in a while and use BoundShot / some sword tech.

[Nalkor]

Originally posted by ICountFrom0:

I remember that you want to save one of the characters for last because they are just better at winning against the true final boss... I don't remember who though.

Was it taking blue last, going through the vampire sidequest to drain them to 1 LP, and then intentionally losing to his other self to have both the best items and combined magic, or was there something even more broken for the true final boss?

You mean to tell me after all the years I've played this game that there's a true final boss?

[Auspice]

You can also use Fool to break StasisRune, on both you and enemies.

It doesn't need to be used by Blue, it affects the entire battlefield.

There's not exactly a true final boss, but more of a bonus boss. If you clear the game with all characters on the same system data, you'll go to a bonus area that is basically a developer room. There's a boss there, and it's a little tougher than most of the final bosses.

I'm actually unsure if Blouge can even get to 2nd Div in the original game due to the nature of his ending.

[Paladin]

I always take Asellus to 2nd Div. I think her quest is my favorite with Red's being a close second.

[ICountFrom0]

The ultimate party would involve team 1 being an alkhser and robot set, team 2 being the rest of the robots with an upgraded t260g in body 8, and team 3 being Rog-ue with acelus in half mystic form lute and the backpack, and riku with the 5 rings, and "random person with DSC here".

Course, that would take sneaking into the debug room, heh.

[👁]

There is no Optimal Play Order, just start with Fuse he's the new guy.

After That pick Asellus because her story is awesome.

Then because you're bored Pick Blue, but don't master magic, no no, instead master the ancient art of Kung Fu and Suplex Rogue. Haha Nerd!

Then pick Lute and just because Lute is bad at everything, make him a masterful Light Magic user. Why? Because Light Magic is easy to obtain and universally useful.

Then pick the Racoon... Ummm. Riki? Pick him and eat every meat you find. Eat every meat. EAT EVERY MEAT what the game doesn't tell you is that you gain hidden stats every time you eat meat and it affects what you can turn into so Eat Tha Meat, Eat Tha Meat, Eat Tha Meat.

Then pick Red and just speed run it because screw Red and also you can Speed Run his without getting ROFL stomped for trying.

Then pick Emelia and don't even use guns. Like the game WANTS you to use guns but guns are terrible and you can train your characters however you want with enough effort so be like "Guns, NOPE" and just steal the sword from your ally and use it until you're actually good at it while your ally punches things (she'll be fine, it builds character), then when you get to Koorang be like "Screw the main quest" and walk out and do an adventure until you're good enough to cut the Moon in half, THEN do the main quest.

Then and only then play as a robot and become a sexy flying saucer and recruit other robots to your cause. Robots can be leveled up simply by equipping them with items how neat is that? Aside from learning techs from other robots you just need to get some really good items and you're good enough to finish.

[Intra]

Emelia gets the Pink Tiger costume on what, her 2nd mission? That gives you the same talents as Liza, so you can use that the whole game and make her learn the DSC pretty easily. Liza also happens to be competent with swords (more than Annie who sucks with them, though not as good as Gen), above average with Guns and Magic. It's probably Emelia's best costume regardless of how you want to build her.

Because apparently only Dancer changes Emelia's talent to Annie's and Annie learns almost nothing more than Emelia's base talents or Liza. Annie's list of talents is DEPRESSINGLY short. She's almost as bad as Lute.

The only four abilities she can't learn across costumes, according to the Data FAQ by Zaraktheus is: "The only four
Abilities for which none of her costumes have Talent are: TurbidCurrent,
LifeSprinkler, Tres Flores, and GoldHand."

This makes Emelia the best character to have talents in virtually all the skills in the game, though missing out on LifeSprinkler is a bit of a bummer.

BTW having innate talent in all fighting moves other than GoldHand means Emelia can learn the DSC even easier than Liza (!) so if you want an obvious path there you go.

[👁]

Alternately you can just pick up a sword and head to the seweres of Koorang and hit things until you're really really good at it.

[👁]

Not as efficient but this game lets you do you.
You can pick Blue and become a master of martial arts. It's slow and painful at first, but you can, and the fact that you can is why I love this game. Kung Blue was my first Blue.

[👁]

I just wanna convey that it was extremely satisfying to Suplex Rogue and call him a nerd.

I absorbed his magic but the only spell I used a lot was gate.

[ICountFrom0]

I argue there is an optimal finishing state for the 2nd division due to some of the characters having access to a bit more when they are the main character, compared to how they would be as a side character.

Main Character Advantage:
Blue-rogue is the most dramatic example going from a handful of spells, to an absolute madman.

Riki's rings can't be gathered by anybody else and some of them are brokenly strong, combined with being able to backpack them out from inventory, well....

T260G's final robot body is rather insane, though you can get his default body up to absurd amounts of power if you really want due to it having more slots, so the gain here is small, unless Vmax matters to you. More interesting are the two robots (leonard and facemash) that only go along on his run.

Red but only because you can't get re-al-kaiser without fighting his final boss. Do you need it... probably not.

No advantage:
Asellus, I think there's maybe one person she can recruit that nobody else can?
Emelia, goes nowhere special, gets nobody special.
Lute, lets face it, he's not even a main character in his own mission.

Given that Red's advantage is trivial, and would only show up in an all robot party, and if your going to omnibot, you might as well go full robot, you can put him in the second list.

Given that T260G's big advantage isn't his 8th form, but two of the robots he can recruit that nobody else can, it might be better to just let him be the only bot and keep the best toys to himself to be even more powerful.

This reduces the most powerful final choice to Riki, and Rogue.

[Auspice]

So main character advantages for everyone:

Asellus: She's a half-mystic, letting her add gratuitous amounts to her stats on top of human stat growth. Since she's in Emelia's game she also gets it there, but she's the only character in the game with these benefits. You can think of her a bit like a super-Alkaiser, but without the Alkaiser skill list.

Blouge: All the magic, except Evil, Mirage and a few Mystic spells (can only learn Mystic spells by giving up his Realm spells in Facinaturu and getting Realm magic back after the duel). Obviously doesn't apply outside the Blue scenario.

Emelia: Can copy the talent lists of Liza and Annie by swapping costumes, letting her learn virtually every fighting skill in the game and most sword skills. Easily the best fighting character in the game during her scenario.

Lute: Can be swapped out of party 1 in his own story, meaning he is not required to be in the battle party during any part of the game.

Red: Can change into Alkaiser and access Alkaiser skills. RaySword boosts his HP by 200, Re-Al-Phoenix is by far the best martial attack in the game (for either sword or fighting).

Riki: He gets the RINGs. They're kind of good, but can be equipped on anyone, not just Riki.

T260: Can swap her body to one of any Mec body TYPE, including the scenario-exclusive Omega body. Swapping her body type also changes her Self-Development list, making her the Emelia of mecs. Only applies during her own story.

Fuse: who knows ?!?!?!?!

The 2nd Div boss fight is easy with any endgame party, honestly.

[⭕TheSodaman]

Originally posted by Nalkor:

Originally posted by ICountFrom0:

I remember that you want to save one of the characters for last because they are just better at winning against the true final boss... I don't remember who though.

Was it taking blue last, going through the vampire sidequest to drain them to 1 LP, and then intentionally losing to his other self to have both the best items and combined magic, or was there something even more broken for the true final boss?

You mean to tell me after all the years I've played this game that there's a true final boss?

My memory is so fuzzy.

I remember getting to the developer room after 7 characters (I think I may have chosen Rouge instead of Blue during the duel), but I don't recall any true final boss. This sounds scary. And intriguing. And I doubt that memory card is still in my possession.