From Gourry
I'm sure you all know the deal by now. This is for Wild Arms 1, which is a game that has gotten a bit of discussion as of late. If you pester me enough, I'll do tests without the 3 Runes, but this is how I would interpret the characters in the RPGP or in RPGmon.
Each Force ability marks out at 25 FP. In other words, Rudy's first Force Ability, ARM Lock On takes 25 FP. His next Force ability, Summon Guardian, takes 50 FP. When characters get Condition Green (100 FP), status effects are nulled. Like the other Wild Arms games, each characters starts out with no FP at all. However, they are not limited by FP constraints like the others are (in other words, they are able to use their special attacks, such as ARMs, Fast Draws, and spells provided that they have enough bullets/MP). They all need to accumulate FP by acting in combat. I think that these are correct, but it is hard to tell since the exact number of FP is not given.
~10 FP for every round.
~5 FP for ARMS, Fast Draws, and Magic.
~15 FP for every hit taken.
~10 FP for every hit given.
~15 FP for every hit dodged.
These tests were taken at level 47, which is overlevelled. I did some of the sidequests and most of the optional bosses, so that's why I'm a bit higher than most people would be. I tested these against enemies at the last dungeon, except for Jack's Instant Death attacks, which would not work on endgame monsters. My status tests are kinda strange, so if anyone feels like doing status tests... that would be very helpful. As for Wild ARMs criticals, I think that they ignore defense or do set damage.
I feel that most of the ultimate equips are valid. They're all unique, and none of them are particularly overpowering. I'd also allow the characters the Runes they are given through storyline sequences. I feel that it is rather obvious who gets what. Cecilia is given the Love Rune after defeating Elizabeth. Jack gets Courage after beating Harken. Rudy has a very strong claim to the Hope Rune as:
1. It's Rudy who was finally able to summon him, after Jack and Cecilia fail.
2. Justine and Raftina go on about Rudy and about him being a Holmcross, taunting him, telling him that he can't summon the Hope Rune and Zohar, then Zohar goes on about how Rudy was hope and has feelings despite being an android. (Thanks to Zenthor for these)
If pressed, I will do tests without these Runes.
Rudy
HP: 3960
MP: 0
STR: 304 (364)
VIT: 274 (328)
SOR: 102 (112)
RES: 105 (115)
ATP: 634
DFP: 496
MGR: 231
PRY: 19%
Divine Blade- +270 ATP
Metal Shield- +30 DFP and 8% PRY
Braver Vest- +242 DFP and 175 MGR
Dead Heat- +60 DFP
Hope Rune- +30% STR, +20% VIT, +10% SOR, and +10% RES.
If, for whatever reason, Rudy wants to increase his normal physical, he can opt for his Power Boost rather than the Metal Shield. He loses the defensive bonus from the Metal Shield, but all of his physical attack is doubled 75% of the time.
Damage Tests and ARMs.
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Physical Attack- 1150.
1. Hand Cannon- 1450.
2. Prism Ray- 1300 to a group.
3. Rocket Launcher- 2900. The damage on this really fluctuates. I've seen numbers like 1700-3300.
4. Twin Orbs- Depending on his luck, it can do anywhere from 1500 to 9999 damage. With Normal luck, Rudy does an average of 3400 damage.
1x- 12 (1500)
2x- 7 (3000)
3x- 2 (4500)
4x- 1 (6000)
5x- 2 (7500)
6x- 2 (9000+)
5. Bazooka- 1450. Fire Damage.
6. Phaser- 3800. 99%.
7. Wild Bunch- 4700. 59%. Rudy should definitely use Lock on with it.
8. Arch Smash- 5200. 84%.
I think that ARMs may have a defense piercing property. I tested several attacks on Zeikfried before and after his defense increases. His boosted defense made it so that even Jack's regular attack was reduced to 2 digits. However, I used Phaser on him, and it did 3300 before any boosts, and 3000 afterward the first. Elfboy says that it may be a subtraction based system, and the defense of the enemy doesn't do much to the large numbers that the ARMs give.
Force Abilities
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1. ARM Lock On- ARM attacks is given a 100% hit rate.
2. Summon Guardian- Summons Guardian. Rudy's summon (Zephyr) does around 4000.
3. Protector- Causes Rudy to block hits for his friends. Also raises defense.
4. Fury Shot- Ensures 100% hit rate and triples ARM power. Anything that's a Phazer and above will do 9999.
Evaluation: To me, Rudy seems to be a fairly decent Middle/Heavy. He's pretty tankish, with above average HP and excellent defense. Rudy's ARMs eat away at defense, and they do good damage. Of his Force Abilities, Fury Shot seems to be the most useful. However, he may not get the chance to use it (if he's using ARMs, it'll take him 7 turns for him to get Fury Shot if he isn't getting hit, and 4 turns if he is getting hit). Lock On and Arch Smash seem to be his best bets. His major downsides are that he's slowish, has questionable magic defense, and his only perk in a duel is damage.
Jack
HP: 3605
MP: 166
STR: 385 (462)
VIT: 211 (232)
SOR: 158
RES: 143 (185)
ATP: 782
DFP: 382
MGR: 199
PRY: 38%
Juggernaut- +370 ATP
Boom Getter- +24 DFP. 20% PRY
Jade Wilder- +192 DFP. 120 MGR.
Texas Number- +50 DFP
Courage Rune- +20% STR, +10% VIT, +30% RES,
Jack can use Fast Draws without a sword, but they're very weak.
Damage Tests and Fast Draws
---
Physical Attack- 1450.
Critical- ~1800
1. Psycho Crack- 1800. Can cause Confuse. WA Confusion makes an enemy attack the air. 14/17
2. Sonic Buster- 1100 to a group.
3. Meteor Dive- 2800.
4. Trickster- 750. Steals stuff, if you allow that.
5. Heal Blade- Heals 50% of maximum HP (1802). Also cures statuses.
6. Soul Breaker- Instant Death.
7. Divide Shot- Halves enemy's current HP.
8. Slash Rave- Does several slashes. Each slash does ~1400 damage. It did an average of 2900 for me.
Out of 25 tries with normal luck:
1 Slash- 12 times. 48%
2 Slashes-7 times. 28%
3 Slashes-2 times. 8%.
4 Slashes-2 times. 8%
5 Slashes-2 times. 8%
9. Blast Charge- 2550 to 1. Area damage to rest.
10. Guilty Blade- 2600 to a group.
11. Shadow Bind- 0. Can cause paralysis. If Jack uses Shadow Bind on a paralyzed opponent, the move will turn into Dark Sweep, which does around 6000. Dark Sweep misses non-paralyzed opponents. 31/40
12. Magnum Fang- 4550.
13. Phazer Zapp- 3550. Usually in game you would equip an elemental ring and Phazer Zapp would do damage of that element. However, the elemental rings are RPGP illegal.
14. Cosmic Nova- 2900 to all.
15. Void- Instant Death to all enemies. 28/40
16. Trump Card- 7300 at full HP. It loses a lot of power if Jack's HP isn't nearly full. After he took 1 damage, he did 7359 damage. After he took 41 damage, he did 4500 damage with TC. I'm not exactly sure where the line between insanely powerful and decently powerful is, but it's probably not worth worrying about. He's best off using Magnum Fang if weakened. It becomes very weak later on. Jack needs to savor his first Trump Card, because he will very rarely get the chance to use it at full strength again.
As Grefter mentioned, Trump Card does 9999 (almost always, from what I've seen) when Jack is in critcial (10% HP or less).
Force Abilities
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1. Accelerator- Ensures that Jack goes first in a round.
2. Summon Guardian- Summons a Guardian. Jack's summon (Justine) does around 4500 damage.
3. Sonic Vision- Is an automatic critical. Does around 3 times a normal critical. If Jack does a counterattack on that turn, it will also critical. 5500 damage.
4. Double Attack- Acts twice in one round.
Evaluation: Jack, to me, seems to be a pretty good Heavy. Some don't allow his Rune (he is the one who benefits most from the Runes), and that is a major factor in how someone would interpret him. With the Runes, he has excellent damage in Trump Card, and he will most likely get it off first. His statuses seem pretty decent as well, ranging from Confusion, Instant Death, and Paralysis, all of which have pretty good hit percentages. Jack has 50% healing, which is pretty decent, I suppose. His downside is durability. He has average HP and just average defense. Also, after he takes damage, his damage takes a severe hit. Like Rudy, his most useful Force is Double Attack, which he will rarely get (but he may get it more often than Rudy, since he has healing and is faster).
Cecilia
HP: 3230
MP: 338
STR: 238 (249)
VIT: 193 (231)
SOR: 191 (518)
RES: 118 (123)
ATP: 409
DFP: 281
MGR: 554
PRY: 12%
Dist Dims- +160 ATP
Necronomicon- +270 SOR (in turn, she gets an additional 135 MGR)
Pret-a-porte- +130 DFP, 295 MGR
Ruby Tiara- 36 DFP
Love Rune- +5% STR, +20% VIT, +30% SOR, +4% RES
Cecilia can opt for a Holy Parasol, at the cost of a lot of magic power. In fact, Cecilia's healing and damage are halved without the Necronomicon. However, the Parasol's special ability may make up for it. The Holy Parasol is like a permanent Runic in that every spell (from what I can tell, it absorbs all spells that take MP to cast. Also, it does not absorb positive spells) is absorbed into her MP reserves (the amount is how much MP it took to cast the spell. If a spell takes 15 MP to cast, Cecilia absorbs 15 MP. However, the Holy Parasol can absorb spells that do not cost MP as well. In the last few fights, the boss uses Dark Ray and Inferno (level 3 spells, I think). She absorbed them as 0 MP.
As for the Necronomicon, it is not as hard to get as most people think. All you really have to do is cast Prison on a Necronomicon enemy. Afterwards, use Lucky Shot on them, and you have your Necronomicon. I got one after the 2nd or 3rd try. It isn't like stealing apples and using Charms with the Goo Kings, where it still has a very low chance of working. This method was always 100% for me. Anyway, if enough people ask, I'll do tests without the Necronomicon (I'll do it anyway, because it makes a difference if she wants to use the Holy Parasol).
Abilities
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Physical Attack- 750
1. Rainbow- 2500 (enemies with several resistances absorb it or take 0)
2. Hi-Spark- 2700 lightning damage.
3. Hi-Blast- 2800 non elemental damage.
4. Hi-Break, Hi-Flame, Hi-Vortex, Hi-Freeze- 1700
5. Darkness and Saint- 2600
6. MP Drain- Drains 20-30 MP from an enemy.
7. Life Drain- Drains HP depending on Cecilia's current HP count. It gets stronger as Cecilia's HP goes down. At critical HP, it will drain half of her maximum HP. It is very ineffective if she is healthy.
8. Heal- Heals 2600.
9. Hi-Heal- Full recovery
10. Hyper- Doubles Attack Power
11. Lock State- Causes Cecilia to be immune to statuses.
12. Restore- Heals status effects
13. Protect- Increases MGR by 50%
14. Eraser- Gets rid of all of an enemy's elemental strengths and weaknesses.
15. Prison- Locks Enemy up. Prison'ed enemies die after the next attack. Fairly good chance of working. 80-90%.
16. Silence- Silences enemy. 8/10
17. Confusion- Causes confusion. Don't know chances.
18. Dispell- Cancels an enemy's status boosting spell.
19. Reflect- Reflects magic.
20. Anti Magic- Causes all offensive magic attacks to do 0 damage. Lasts 2 rounds.
21. Hide- Causes physical attacks to miss. Wears off after a few rounds or after any offensive attack. Cecilia has a good chance of counterattacking after dodging an attack.
22. Air Screen- Parry Rate increased 25%
23. Counter Up- Raises Counter Rate by 25%.
24. Life Guard- Life 3. When Cecilia is knocked out, she comes back with 25% of her life.
25. Soul Guard- Protects against Instant Death?
26. Banish- Drops current HP by 3/4, and nerfs Attack and Magic Attack (thanks to Elfboy).
27. Armor Down- Reduces enemy's defense by 50%
28. Slow Down- Reduces enemy's speed by 50%
29. Shield- DFP Up 50%
Randomizer has several effects. I'm not sure whether it's dependant on luck or not, but in my experience, she has a very high chance of casting offensive magic (which is probably what she wants).
From sopko
"1. Believe it or not, not only is there a 3rd level of magic, there is a 4th! Shown by Glow Blast, the Holy spell that hits all for about 4-5k damage, and Hi-Saint, which does 9999 usually, boss or normal. Both are Holy attacks that hit all enemies, but one does much, much more damage than the other. I don't know if these would be considered 4th level spells:
Hi Rainbow (Hits all enemies with all elements. 5-6k damage)
Best Shot (Lucky Shot against all enemies. 3-4k damage)
Soul Shield (No idea what this does. Soul Guard for all?)
Anger (All Abilities ((Stats)) Raised 25%)
2. Including the in question spells listed above, you have a 25% chance of casting a Level 4 spell.
3. There is a 10% chance of casting a spell that will harm your party.
4. There is a 5% chance of casting a normal spell.
5. Terrain does seem to be a factor of what spells are casting, as one different terrains some spells seem to repeat. I can't
make out a pattern though. More on that."
I didn't bother to list Cecilia's MP costs, since she probably won't run out.
Force Abilities
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1. Mystic- Unleashes secret powers from items. In-game, this is mostly used to spread the effect of a healing item to the whole party, so that aspect is useless in the RPGP. She has other items to Mystic, but they're useless, since she has many of these spells in her spell list anyway.
2. Summon Guardian- Summons Guardian. Dependent on Cecilia's Rune. Raftina heals, and Stoldark does 2000 water damage.
3. High Guardian- Summons higher form of Guardians. Raftina does ~8200 and drains (it is full healing), and Stoldark does 4400 water damage.
4. Dual Cast- Casts 2 spells in one round.
Evaluation: Cecilia is a pretty killer Heavy. However, she's rather slow and has porr defense. Thing is, she kills almost any mage that doesn't have a decent physical. Holy Parasol eats offensive magic and statuses. Anti Magic prevents healing. Banish and to a lesser extent, Hide, screw physical attackers over (she really doesn't want to counter attack after Hide). Shield is an excellent spell for her, acting like the Upper spell in Dragon Warrior 4. Outside of Randomizer, her damage isn't that great (on the other hand, level 3 and 4 spells do sick damage), and it's mostly elemental. Her best Force is High Guardian, which does excellent damage and fully heals her.
Stat Comparisons
Keep in mind that averages in this game aren't that reliable since there are only 3 characters.
HP: Rudy (3960) > Jack (3605) > Cecilia (3230)
Average: ~3600
RES, before equips: Jack (143) > Cecilia (118) > Rudy (105)
Average: 122
RES, after equips: Jack (185) > Cecilia (123) > Rudy (115)
Average: 141
DFP: Rudy (496) > Jack (382) > Cecilia (281)
Average: ~386
MGR: Cecilia (554) > Rudy (231) > Jack (199)
Average: 328
First Turn Damage Average (I discounted conditional stuff like Randomizer and Trump Card)
Rudy's Arch Smash (5200) > Jack's Magnum Fang (4550) > Cecilia's Hi-Blast (2800)
Average: 4180 (5100 with Trump Card)