[spoilers] "Tier list" of "Arm worthy" characters?

[Jaditron]

I just ran into buzzo for the second time and he wants either Nern or my arm.
I can decide which is more useful, as I want brad to be strong and to save that arm for a better character, but Nern + Olan is really good right now.

who is worthy of the ol' Arm and a leg? Is there a list of characters that it's worth it to do it? I Understand its more about ethics but hey its the apocalypse and I need this arm to save her.

[Sally]

Nobody's made a tierlist oddly enough. Nern is a very good character, though, especially if you have an SP/TP hungry ally.

[Ajogamer]

When I choose to sacrifice someone there I usually chose Percy, since his moveset seems pretty basic, and I didn't have much attachment to him (even if his scene's pretty great) I have heard a person or two say his fireball and heal skills can be pretty useful though, I imagine he' still a solid companion.

If I had to say worst ally at that point of the game, I'd probably say Fardy. His skill is strong and hits multiple targets, so he's actually pretty solid for the point you get him, but that's also ALL he has to offer, which really limits his potential as a whole. There are also allies who are better at the same thing later, like Shocklord (another one trick pony, but has better stats and a better hit rate; one of the more likable party members too) and Fly (who has a somewhat similar strong AOE move, along Puke, which is one of the game's better status ailment moves).

I think part of the reason people may not have made a tier list is cause the party members are actually decently balanced in this game. There are a few that stick out as stronger due to how much they offer, like Birdie, Bo, Terry (once he's stronger) and Fly, but everyone seems very usable, and there are a lot of viable party combinations. The only times I really remember characters sticking out as feeling weak is with some of the allies that suffer Joy withdraw (though they also seem like they'd be some of the best guys to use joy on, so I imagine they're all pretty awesome if you're willing to use it) and Terry (though with him, it's intentional until he gets stronger)

[MegaLobsterFace]

I honestly think that losing that arm isn't really that big of an issue. The only special move it takes away is Buster Punches, which was already the worst move. You're probably going to be losing a party member at some other point during the game, and most of them are better than Brad anyway. Having your attack lowered a little bit on the one character who never stops leveling is a much better alternative, in my opinion

[Blue]

Fardy (or whatever his name is) is pretty useless, if I recall. He's kind of a one-trick pony. Granted he hits like a truck, but he has a high rate of missing, and he gets the "Depressed" debuff a lot.

Objectively, it's hard to defend permanently weaking the one character you will always use (both stat-wise and increasing Joy dependency) over the life of any one of the half-dozen or so "expendable" party members.

[Ajogamer]

Originally posted by MegaLobsterFace:

I honestly think that losing that arm isn't really that big of an issue. The only special move it takes away is Buster Punches, which was already the worst move. You're probably going to be losing a party member at some other point during the game, and most of them are better than Brad anyway. Having your attack lowered a little bit on the one character who never stops leveling is a much better alternative, in my opinion

I kinda agree, though do want to note that you don't only lose Buster Punches. You also lose Machine Gun Fist, which I think is one of the more damaging moves, though it's also not so much moreso that you're really gimped by losing it (and you also get Pea Gun Fist as a somewhat weaker replacement). I feel like the biggest penalty from 2 > 1 is really the increased Joy dependance, since it being increasingly frequent can be a bit annoying. His fireball moves are still solid damage, but usually not as good damage as his other moves can be, unless you're using Birdie's oil spit (which honestly seems a bit OP in how strong it is).

Sacrificing an arm early on also means that if you sacrifice another arm later, you'll be taken from 1 > 0, which is a lot more crippling, so even if having one arm isn't bad, it can be nice to keep it at this first decison, since I feel like losing all your items can be a bigger blow than losing a single party member (that can easily be someone you'll never use), especially if you don't have an easy source of money, like the roulette. Of course, I'm only talking gameplay here. They can all make you feel kinda bad regardless of what you pick, heh.

[French Bastard]

Dude here's my tier list guys.
I'm assuming Joy use and comparing character from the moment they can join up to the end.

Cutting Brad's arm is never worth it from a pure gameplay perspective; every character is replaceable. (with the exception of Nern) Less skills / lower stats isn't that much of a problem, but the more constant withdrawal is a terrible side effect.

And with no arms, Brad can't even combo.


BTW: You can get by with a crappy team, doing crappy choices, and not using Joy. No problem. Just follow your gut and don't rely on silly tier lists.


Ranked from best to worst

Highest Tier
- Fly: The best status attacks; his damage and stats aren't too shabby either. I can't believe this guy was better before.
- Nern: HP+SP healing is enough to make him one of the best characters, as you don't have to rely on campfires or go back to an inn all the time. He "enables" a ton of characters who rely on costly attacks or TP. He would be the best if he wasn't a bit weak at the very beginning compared to Olan and Rage.
- Brad: Powerhouse, but a bit slow, and joy addiction holds him back. Accurate multitarget stun is a godsend later in the game, and he often has the best damage in the team.
- Harvey: A slightly worse Fly; water damage gets in the way of strategies that rely on burn / oil.

High Tier
- Queen: Low accuracy but high damage. Queen's the best person to give Joy to, with some of the highest damage potential and enough HP.
- Olan: Pretty buff for a TP character, poison is a nice status, Rapid Arrow / Mega Rapid Arrow provide excellent damage.
- RT: Well rounded, with decent status attacks and cheap damage
- Ajeet: Also well rounded, with decent status attacks and expensive damage
- Geese: Geese has fast speedy physicals, and can hold his own for boss fights too thanks to poison. Durability could be a bit better.
- Birdie: Oil status is great! He also gets multitarget healing. He can also have good damage on top of all that if Nern's in the team to heal his TPs..

Middle Tier
- Mad Dog: Decent guy, Taunt helps him get TP for free but he takes a while to really get going.
- Buckets: Bucket's a glass cannon. He's another joy addict unfortunately, and he's miserable under withdrawal.
- Carp: Another high attack/speed joy addict , but weaker than Buckets and Queen. Poison is pretty good if no one else in your team has it. He's well rounded.
- Jack: He has multitarget fire damage and nothing else. Magic hats are cool but worthless. Always decent against groups, and alllright in boss battles with Birdie.
- Rooster: Allright once he gets the big multitarget skills, I guess, but very reliant on Nern.
- Garth: Garth can do a lot of status effects, but not much else. Piss off is a good status. - Rage: Stays in Brad's shadow for the whole game. Remembering all these combos is also annoying.
- Ollie: Ollie has extremely low max SP, so he requires Nern period. (or lots of items) Otherwise, he's actually better than he looks. He gets a supreme attack at level 25.
- Percy: Percy's unfortunately not that bad, still not terribly impressive either.
- Pink Ranger: I don't really know what Party Time does, improve accuracy? He's my favourite character but I don't find much of an use for him; joy addiction is as always a burden, and it's better to give joy to Brad (let alone Buckets / Carp / Queen) rather than him.

Low Tier
- Bo: Cheap multitarget healing is something. Multitarget Bleed is a decent trick His other status attacks aren't terribly accurate or useful. That's all Bo has.
- Buffalo: Underwhelming TP character
- Fardy: Give him Joy and you have your boss destroyer early on. Otherwise, not good at all.
- Beastborn: Underwhelming TP character mk2
- Sonny: Underwhelming TP character mk3

Lowest Tier
- Shocklord: Shocklord only has one inaccurate attack. It even costs SP!
- Tiger Man: This is the biggest downgrade from a boss to a playable character since Magus. He's also a joy addict.
- Clint: Hahahah you paid 500 mags for this
- Yazan: Terrible stats, with a bad best weapon.
- Crisp: Comes at the very end of the game, outclassed by everybody. Just be a nice person and give him his lover.
- Terry: Terry gets one super attack late in the game, but he still has the lowest HPs and you have to waste one slot throughout the whole game.


The best, totally overkill, team is Brad / Queen / Fly / Nern

[MegaLobsterFace]

My tier list:
Geese Thompson & Harvey Allibastor are high tier, because I like their silly names
Everyone else is below that

[Cheezy WEAPON]

I went for a Joyless ending, so I had to keep my arms and items to counter the constant withdrawals and keep his stats up. Tho by the end of the game Brad was super OP.

I sacrificed Nern, both fishes and Ollie. Percy went in the Russian Roulette.

I found the "raise SP/TP" of any character to be rather useless, since they spend their own SP to trade off, wasting a turn. I wasn't going to keep Ollie for the crippling depression stat, and the fishes were just extra characters I'll never use.

The best? Ajeet. He's got no normal attack, but his high rate status ailments saved my ass MANY times during joy beast fights.

Also Birdie is too OP. Two heals and oil buffs? I put Terry in the bleachers after that.

I kept Olan around only because he was leveling with the others. I would've liked if his multi hit arrows came earlier but he's fine as is.

The worst? Probably Buckets. His Joy addiction is terrible for Joyless runs. Just skip him entirely on pain mode. Don't sacrifice your meat shield buddies for that glass cannon. Even Rage is better than that till you find someone with higher crits.

[Jaditron]

I'm going for Joyless as well, so thank you for the information.
When Buzzo corners you, does he onyl choose from your party? If so then I'll just fill my party with unused characters (like Fardy or Percy) and go in prepared to axe on of them.

[Blue]

Originally posted by RIP MOOT:

I'm going for Joyless as well, so thank you for the information.
When Buzzo corners you, does he onyl choose from your party? If so then I'll just fill my party with unused characters (like Fardy or Percy) and go in prepared to axe on of them.

Yes, he takes whoever is in your first party slot.

[Jaditron]

Originally posted by Eleanor Roosevelt:

Originally posted by RIP MOOT:

Unless you mean the scene at the end of act two, then he takes your whole party minus Brad.

when is that? I need to know when to load up on a bunch of useless characters.

[Blue]

Originally posted by RIP MOOT:

Originally posted by Eleanor Roosevelt:

when is that? I need to know when to load up on a bunch of useless characters.

In area 2 fork, if you head to the right there is a roadblock, after certain events, the roadblock becomes cleared and after that is the encounter.

[kotamine]

Originally posted by Poetic Justice Warrior:

In area 2 fork, if you head to the right there is a roadblock, after certain events, the roadblock becomes cleared and after that is the encounter.

Sorry for necro-ing, but that's a lie. He only kills the three guys you have first.