Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Tri-Ace Release Date: 08/31/2004 Difficulty: Various My Rating: 9.6 / 10

Character Evaluations The characters are very balanced. I have not seen another game where its characters are as balanced as SO3 since Chrono Trigger. My biggest complain is that the AI doesn�t seem to know how to use each character properly. They don't suck, but they also won't be as good as you would control them yourself regardless how well you train them. I haven�t reached the post-game yet, so I won�t talk about some of the ultimate battle skills for each character. My Party Members Fayt: He is possibly the best character in the game. Hands down, "Air Raid" is the best battle skill in the game. It�s not the most damaging attack in the game, but it is definitely the most effective against any types of monsters. The best thing about is that it certainly guarantees it will knock the opponent down, which sort of gives your characters a short break. Maria: Her usefulness comes from her range. In a one-on-one battle, all the melee fighters may be better than her. She has very low HP and defense. She also has the slowest movement during battle. However, her ability to attack from distance is absolutely awesome. In many battle, you really don�t want to get too close to your opponents. Her best skill setup is probably "Gravity Bullets" in short range and "Pulse Beast" in long range. Most of the time, she should be using "Pulse Beast". This is a fantastic attack. It starts at 4 hits, goes to 12 hits when it reaches level 8. Set her tactics to "Act in a well-balanced manner!", she will also serve as a solid healer. Having her on the party will make a lot of battles much easier. Nel: Her biggest advantage over other characters is that she has "Mirror Slice". This is one of the most impressive attacks in the game. She also has "Whirlwind", a little slow to pull off, but this is possibly the most damaging attack in the game. However, the stupid AI doesn�t know how to perform this attack properly. If having the AI in controlling Nel, her best skill setup is probably "Mirror Slice" in short range and "Flying Guillotine" in long range. Nel�s only weakness is her low HP and defense. Other Characters Albel: My first impression to him is quick but not very strong. Towards the end, his attack power will surpass Fayt�s, but most of his battle skills are too slow. "Dragon Roar" and "Vampire Flash" are merely useless. I also found �Hand of Doom� a little slow to pull off. It works pretty well on most of the monsters. Not as damaging as Nel�s "Mirror Slice", but it puts out a decent amount of damage and also knocks the opponent down in the end. However, when fighting monsters that react rapidly, this attack can often be interrupted. His most effective skill setup is probably "Double Slash" in short range and "Air Slash" in long range. Neither one of these attacks deals a tremendous amount of damage, and this is the only reason I picked Nel over Albel. The advantages Albel has over Nel are his high HP, defense, and attack power. Albel also has few regular attacks that are among the best. Cliff: He is probably the strongest character early on. Most of his battle skills are quite good. "Acrobat Locus" is probably his best, though I like "Fists of Fury" too. Still, I think Nel�s "Mirror Slice" is better. Cliff also has one of the highest HP, defense, and attack power among all the characters, but he does have low MP. Overall, it�s really a toss-up between Nel, Albel, and Cliff. Mirage: I probably choose Peppita over Mirage if she were one of the optional characters. Not that Peppita is stronger, but I�ll get a chance to explore another character since Mirage is very similar to Cliff. Like Cliff, Mirage�s best battle skill is probably "Acrobat Locus". Although she does have "Avenger Charge", this attack deals almost equal amount of damage as "Acrobat Locus", but since it is fire elemental based, you need to be careful when using it. Mirage�s stats are also very identical to Cliff�s. The only difference is their HP. Since Cliff has much higher HP, for that reason, I would pick Cliff over Mirage. Sophia/Adray: They�re more useful as a full time healer, but you must control them yourself. Overall, they are still not worth using. Roger: I used him mostly during the early stage. He didn�t impress me enough to recruit him. His biggest downside is that he lacks of one solid battle skill. However, I didn�t get a chance to witness all of his battle skills, but I did manage to see "Raging Helmet" in Versus Mode. It is still not great. Peppita: She�s the only character I didn�t use too much. I was able to witness almost all of her strongest battle skills in Versus Mode. "Faerie Friend" is probably her best. This is actually a very powerful attack, but overall I still think Peppita�s overshadowed by other melee fighters.

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