Source
r/JRPG•
VulkanCurze

Non Optimal Parties

Discussion

I was recently just watching a Let's Play of Chrono Cross by HC Bailey and for anyone who hasn't watched him before, he basically does walkthroughs of JRPGs. He will basically shows the optimal way through the game, explaining why he does what he does, and will even mention speed run strats and show them on occasion if he feels it is something he can do.

But watching his Chrono Cross playthrough got me thinking about his other LPs and how I play these games and how I very rarely play with an optimal team or strategy. As an example in about 90 percent of his LPs Agility/Speed is the most important stat and while watching I am thinking "Yup that makes complete sense to do that" while I play the game myself I am more like "Well this guy is strong give him more strength fuck the agility". And while he was playing CC he was constantly swapping party members for each situation based on their elements etc whereas when I play it, I get two characters I like and I will brute force my way through things.

So I was just wondering what other people are like because I do see a lot of comments saying that X character in Y game sucks ass because their stats suck but they are a character I never let leave my team. Who else doesn't care about stats and will have someone just because of who they are in game/character design/weapon/any reason at all.

Posted Apr 13, 2020, 12:37 AM UTC

614
[deleted]•

i pick my team based on what characters i like.
it doesn't matter to me how good a character's skills/abilities/stats are in combat if they're an annoying character in dialogue or i just don't like their character design then they're getting benched.

13
[deleted]•

Most jrpgs are balanced in a way that doesn't force you to use the fully optimal team, unless you're doing end game content or something. I have always just used the characters I like

8
Budliquor•

I go with characters I like. I used Cyan in FF VI, I didn't use Quina in FF IX etc.

JRPGs in general are so easy that it really doesn't matter.

2
mrglass8•

Karol Capel is one of the worst playable characters in Tales of Vesperia. I won't even contend that I'm good with him, as he's very challenging to play even in a casual playthrough.

I don't care though, I still play as him, because he's one of my favorite characters in the entire series.

2
tradesojack•

Unless I need a difficulty adjustment, I just go with whatever I'm having fun with. As an example, I recently struggled in Persona Q (a game with tons of playables), and poked around a bit. Read somewhere that Naoto cleared dungeon trash exceptionally well, and they were right. I ended up running that for most of the game, and it was still somewhat balanced out by Naoto not being quite so great against bosses.

On replays, when I know what I'm doing, sometimes I'll go with the optimal so that I'm tearing through it. Sometimes I'll want something new instead.

2
diewithyourmaskon•

I almost never look at stats beyond “numbers go up?” If I wanted to get that fiddly with min/maxing and optimal builds I’d play CRPGs. I choose based on what characters I like, or what suits my preferred play style. I actually like games that force or strongly encourage using everyone equally- being able to switch in FFX without losing a turn was great.

1
RyanWMueller•

I think it depends on what you're going for with your party. Different builds will be optimal for different play styles.

For example, in Dragon Quest XI, I usually went with the characters who could allow me to power through battles on an all-out offensive, only occasionally switching things up for boss battles.

1
medes24•

very rare that I don’t try to brute force my way with who I like. FFX actively encouraged party cycling but even then I basically would always leave Auron on the field.

1
ginja_ninja•

The true path is finding the coolest most canon setups AND making them OP. That's what I always shoot for. I think I have gotten pretty close to it in FFV and FFXII.

1
GrugCrood•

Chrono Cross's leveling system rewards you for swapping characters out often.

Normally in an RPG I stick with an A-team, but swap out people with specific abilities I need. Usually someone with a way to steal. For example in Chrono Trigger, Ayla is not in my A-team, but I keep her through most of my 1st playthrough because she steals some amazing stuff. By the end of the game she is never in my team again.

I tend to stick with whoever my favorite characters are, but there are occasions where someone is just so ridiculously powerful that they're fun to have around. Such as Sprigg (Chrono Cross), Orlandu (FFT), Zell (FF8), Geno (Mario RPG).

1
yuriaoflondor•

Rarely are JRPGs difficult enough that you really need to use the strongest characters, gear, skill loadouts, even on hard mode.

I usually just use the characters I like the most, and that works out for me.

1
mysticrudnin•

I always use whichever characters are the lowest level regardless of any other factors.

Last time I played FFVII I used Cait Sith and Vincent and I recommend not doing this because they don't have dialogue for most of the game.

1
CarbunkleFlux•

There are very, very few games that punish you for using sub-optimal or even bad comps to an appreciable degree. Better to use who you enjoy IMO, because in the end that's what it's all about.

1
RedditNoremac•

Yeah I pretty much always just play what is fun... so put as many mages/dual wielding characters as possible! So if a game has casters being the optimal choice I play optimally and if not I don't play optimally lol.

Chrono Cross I have no idea what was optimal but I basically just used 2 different elements to max the elements those colors at all times! I was so excited to get Sprigg but OMG the animations for his morphs were excruciating.

FFX - first play through Yuna, Rikku, LuLu

FFX - second play through Yuna, Rikku, Kimahri

So yeah I am probably not an optimal player...

Honestly I hate how older games force you to use the main character. Otherwise I would never use characters like Serge, Lynx, Cloud...

1