Showdown of the Biologists!

It's Hugh the biologist vs. Hahn the student. These two might appear different at first glance since Hahn has a penchant for metallurgy, but Hugh is seen wearing Hahn's outfit in the PS Compendium and they are the sole owners of the Vol Techs to wipe out living creatures, showing their mastery over biological entities. Take a wild guess who I'll pick...

I loved how poor Hahn ended up losing a lot of meseta just to tag along, but he definitely proved to be pretty useful with his techs. In the beginning, it was hard to keep him alive without giving him two shields, so I can't say I liked using him much for that reason.

I ended up giving my vote to Hugh. He seemed like a very interesting character, despite the fact that the PSII cast have little or no character development.

The Komrade wrote:

Take a wild guess who I'll pick...

*glances at avatar*

I'll have to go with Hahn here. Hugh is basically the outline for a biologist character, while Hahn is the finished result.

I'm also going with Hahn. IMO, he's really one of the most developed and identifiable characters in the whole series. He's got parents, a fiancée, and he's supporting his village through his studies. He's not a mercenary, a super wizard, or a giant AI. He's just an ordinary person that steps up to help his friends and family.

Shinuzzo wrote:

I'll have to go with Hahn here. Hugh is basically the outline for a biologist character, while Hahn is the finished result.

Thoul wrote:

I'm also going with Hahn. IMO, he's really one of the most developed and identifiable characters in the whole series. He's got parents, a fiancée, and he's supporting his village through his studies. He's not a mercenary, a super wizard, or a giant AI. He's just an ordinary person that steps up to help his friends and family.

I agree with both of those opinions. Hugh was probably my favorite character in PSII when I was a kid thanks to those Techs for taking out the critters on Dezo in one shot, showing his application of his knowledge. I always applaud a man of action! He's just asking to get killed though with his terrible equipment setup... (a Crystal Chest?!?? Come on!) I also like that severe character portrait he's got at Rolf's house too. He obviously takes life very seriously, which scores big points with me. However, he completely loses me when he says he values all life, including bio-monsters. Now maybe, there are some bio-monsters that serve a purpose, like for food, but we aren't told about them, so based on the game, that means he endorses these creatures that are minions of Neifirst!?

Though, regardless of Hugh's views of bio-monsters, I like Hahn better. He's... too whiny for my liking, but he has a genuine earnestness about him and the quest. He's willing to pay, (as he should have to) to find the answers to his questions, and he never indicates he wants to leave the party; Chaz asks him to. Even then Hahn says that he's been secretly training in hopes to join the cause again. And like all PSIV characters, his skill-set blows Hugh's away, as he gets Nares, Astral, and the whole Wat tree. Then he shows up at the end with some amazing equipment made especially for him that makes Hugh really look the part of a frail biologist. So it's Hahn in a landslide for me.

Actually it's worse then that, Hugh can only equip a Cermaic Chest. Why do I get the impression that someone at Sega hates him?

Plus if he's the leading expert on biology that means he's probably involved in the creation of Neifirst and/or that all more experienced biologists are killed when she escapes.

Shinuzzo wrote:

Actually it's worse then that, Hugh can only equip a Cermaic Chest. Why do I get the impression that someone at Sega hates him?

Oh, hell, I forgot! He stinks.

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Plus if he's the leading expert on biology that means he's probably involved in the creation of Neifirst and/or that all more experienced biologists are killed when she escapes.

Yeah, that's true! He just keeps getting worse... he went from endorsing bio-monsters to being responsible for genocide. So much for "valuing all life". Sounds like he's good at destroying it!

I don't think Hugh's any kind of expert on the level of the people that created Neifirst. According to the compendium book, he was just a researcher at a university. He's probably no more intellectually advanced than Hahn, overall. Certainly, I see nothing to indicate that he might have been directly involved with Neifirst's birth.

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However, he completely loses me when he says he values all life, including bio-monsters. Now maybe, there are some bio-monsters that serve a purpose, like for food, but we aren't told about them, so based on the game, that means he endorses these creatures that are minions of Neifirst!?

My take on it is that he is saying that all life forms, even biomonsters, have the right to live. He's not endorsing their actions; he's just saying that he feels all living things should be respected equally. When the biomonsters start killing other living things, then Hugh joins Rolf to defend those that can't protect themselves.

Thoul wrote:

I don't think Hugh's any kind of expert on the level of the people that created Neifirst. According to the compendium book, he was just a researcher at a university. He's probably no more intellectually advanced than Hahn, overall. Certainly, I see nothing to indicate that he might have been directly involved with Neifirst's birth.

Well, in game it says that he's now the leading expert on plants and animals. Plus it mentions that he became interested at a young age. This seems to hint at the fact he's a prodigy. Of course, this could be different from what's in the Japanese version or Sega decided to retcon it at some point.

I don't remember that line specifically, but since the game says that I would guess that all of the other experts must have been wiped out like you suggested. This could be yet another case where the compendium doesn't apply to the English games.