Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Sometimes, a game has a character that just doesn't live up to their potential or keep up with the other characters. Maybe they have low stats that don't raise well enough, a weak set of magic, or not enough equipment to stay alive. Which characters would you pick as the least useful in each Phantasy Star game?

None in PSI, all have their uses. Noah's magic is highly needed in Boss fights, Alis en Myau pack big punches in regular fights and Odin is the dependable artillery with his laser gun.

In PSII I'd go for Shir. The fact they screwed up her Laco Daggers means she has no real physical attack. She has a good mix of techniques, but lacks the really powerful version of them, only at very high levels does she get Nazan and Nagra for example. Of course it can be corrected by giving her Gizan gear, but from a pure equipment and spell point of view I find her the most useless. The plus side is that she has travel techniques. But compared to the rest, she isn't much of use in my eyes. Rudo being heavy dependable artillery, or rather a tank, Amy with powerful healing, Hugh with good spells against biomonsters, although you need to watch his defense, Kain being able to carry guns to a degree and Anna having her slashers that can attack multiple enemies. Anna ranks low because she has mostly useless techniques supporting her combat abilites.

I haven't played enough PSIII to form a real opinion, I guess all spellcasters without a good physical attack fall into this category as the spells in PSIII suck, except for the healing spells.

As for PSIV, everyone has some kind of use (excluding Seth from being a real character). Rune is a powerhouse spellcasters with high defense when you give him dual shields. Chaz and Rika have powerful attacks, Chaz is also a good offensive caster and Rika has good supportive magic. Wren is the obvious tank. Raja and Kyra offer even more powerful healing and Kyra has a nice attack that gets all enemies. Hahn has a broad range of techniques that can be used including the Wat family and the Vol family. He is also a good healer for individuals. Demi dies a bit too often for my liking, she isn't as sturdy as Wren but her Medical Powers compensate for that. I'm afraid I have to name Gryz the most useless. His attack isn't as powerful as Chaz or Rika, he is very poor against techniques and has virtually no techniques of his own, certainly no healing, which makes him one of the very few that has no recovery based technique at all (the only others being Alys and Wren).

PSI: They were each useful in their own way.

PSII: Hugh! Okay, maybe not, but... I never used him, while I used Shir purely for stealing.

PSIII: Gwyn. Her tech levels rarely increase, so depending on her for healing won't get you anywhere. Warrior Kara also isn't that great, but she makes up for it with her slicers (and I just like her more ^_^).

PSIV: I dislike giving this to Gryz, but he really has nothing going for him with his lack of techs and skills. You'd think that he'd have extra skills to make up for his few, weak techs.

Tsunami wrote:PSIII: Gwyn. Her tech levels rarely increase, so depending on her for healing won't get you anywhere.

Everyone disses Gwyn! Blasphemy! I smite you all! Anyways...

PSI: Everyones useful

PSII: I say Rudo, only because he's your typical character that everyone uses. Lets all be real men and go into the depths with a party of women! Lol, no but seriously I say he's the least useless if you're doing certain types of runs. Other then that he's just a walking meat shield.

PSIII: Laya, even though she may be the mother of my 2nd favorite character in the game by the time you actually get Laya she kinda makes you feel like you don't need her.

PSIV: Wren O_o, only because Demi is sooo awsome I just don't like Wren lol. More power to the Demi cult!

Kaloes wrote:

Tsunami wrote:PSIII: Gwyn. Her tech levels rarely increase, so depending on her for healing won't get you anywhere.

Everyone disses Gwyn! Blasphemy! I smite you all! Anyways...

It's not that I dislike her character... I love Toyo's artwork for her. ^_^ But in the game she's not really useful. Her mother, on the otherhand, has the strongest techs in the game and is the best for healing (however, her speed makes her not so dependable at times...).

PS1: Odin - tanks should have more health than little girls. All the other characters have crucial spells, he just hits stuff hard.

PS2: Hugh - Weak HP, weak defense, techs only work on biomonsters. Shir's high agility makes her a much better choice.

PS3: Lena - If she died half way to the King of Cille you wouldn't notice.

PS4: Demi - Someone who neuters Rika's heals ought to bring something more to the table than some medical power. Gryz is awful, too, but at least Gisar works on him.

PSI: Everyone's useful, though some more than others (I'm looking at you, Myau...)

PSII: I'm gonna go against the grain here and say Anna. Rolf's forcing himself to go with the party, Rudo's guns do set amounts of damage, Amy heals the party and looks cute and innocent, Hugh's a decent backup fighter and healer (though not as great as Rolf or Amy), Kain can handle robots quite admirably (hint: Never give Kain a gun. Ever.), and Shir can... she can shoplift and use the stat-buffing equipment real fast. Plus she's hot. That counts for something.

But Anna? Sure, she can attack an entire group of enemies, but not an entire screen. She only gets a mere handful of Techs. Her defense isn't exactly all that much to brag about.

PSIII: Lena Satera. Lena Mother-####ing Satera. If PSIII used the d20 system for character building, she'd be a Level 1 Commoner with Str 1, Dex 1, Con 1, Int 10, Wis 10, and Cha 10. Tissue paper puts up a better fight than she ever could. I swear, Rhys must have been Sari's father. It's the only explanation.

PSIV: End-game, Chaz, Rika, Rune, and Wren are godly. Sure, Res/Sar/-mates don't work on him, but that's why we have Recover and Repair Kits. (You did find the dungeon with infinite Repair Kits at the bottom, did you?) Raja can easily take the role of main healer, Kyra's a great black mage (and she looks like Sailor Mercury. Another reason for why I should take her with me.), Hahn has some wonderful support Techs and Skills, which leads to... the bottom two. Gryz and Demi. They both suck post-Rykros. But as Dorrinal said, Gryz isn't the worst character only because he counts as humanoid as far as equipment and medicine go. Demi is dead last.

PSGaiden: Minina and Alec. They went to the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy and passed with flying colors. Maybe I should play more than one battle in before passing judgement.

Was Lena really all that bad? Everyone seems to dislike her. She was always useful in my party.

Tsunami wrote:Was Lena really all that bad? Everyone seems to dislike her. She was always useful in my party.

She just doesn't add anything to the team. Rhys, Wren and Mieu pretty much kill anything. You can finish the first generation without buying Lyle or Lena any gear (though a Steel Cape for the big guy is recommended if you have any leftover meseta). Just give her Rhys' hand-me-down Steel Needlers when he upgrades to Laser and she's not useless... just the least useful character in PS3.

My Gwyn actually has godly stats for where I'm at. Her normal Res can heal a almost fatal Adan to full health and I haven't even gotten the Nei Weapons yet. I'm right there at that point though I just gotta go talk to the people.