Again, fighters pretty much amounted to being little more than warm bodies
Right...I'm just not seeing why that is.
Final Fantasy 9:
Zidane Tribal: 8/10 - Success rate may be bad (Not as bad as people make out though) but so what? It snags great gear and thats what matters. Would you prefer it be like most games where the chances are good but bosses give you a potion or some other shit? Anyway he has a great trance that blows things away be them randoms or bosses and while he may have no skills really worth using what does it matter really? His basic physical will last you the whole game anyway so I don't know what everyone is complaining about.
Cinna: 1/10 - Faces only two bosses and both OHKO him. Can't get more pathetic then that.
Blank: 3/10 - Yeah he may be Zidane - but he does help you against the games first hard boss and that is worth something.
Marcus: 5/10 - Warmbody sure but he comes at moments where you actually need him. Steals a bunch of loot off Black Waltz 3 too.
Vivi Ornitier: 7/10 - Good early game and combos well with Steiner. The doomsday combo is also very useful as its basically full MT healing with damage to the enemy added on. It comes a bit late though.
Adelbert Steiner: 9/10 - Due to the Blood sword he can catch up in levels/AP in the escape bit easily. Just let Marcus die and then use the blood sword so the enemies can't kill you. Lacks screentime here and there but overall he is solid.
Garnet "Dagger" Til Alexandros: 8/10 - Healer with good damage. I don't like having to sit through those summons though.
Freya Crescent: 6/10 - The regen is worthless but there is nothing really outstanding about Freya besides she can avoid attacks with jump.
Quina Quen: 10/10 - Quina does nothing wrong and has it all. HP, status (Frost, Vanish, night, Level 5 Death and mustard bomb aren't worthless), the best buff in the game which is not too expensive because if you use it against every single random then you're an idiot, good party healing, party status healing and finally Quina has massive damage with Frog Drop. Also unlike the other characters Quina gets ALL the best stuff early.
Beatrix: 7/10 - Awesome but a temp.
Eiko Carol: 7/10 - Does a good enough job...I really don't care enough to say anything else about her.
Armarant Coral: 3/10 - Comes late and isn't that great to make him worthwhile to use. Its not to say he is a bad fighter, just outclassed somewhat.
Phantasy Star 4:
Chaz Ashley: 6/10 - Not a fan and he gets good too damn late.
Alys Bragwin: 6/10 - Alright but not that great. MT sucks and everyone starts doing more damage then her after a short while.
Hahn Mahlay: 3/10 - Fucking horrible. You don't need his crappy healing much early on and if you get him at endgame for his healing then why not, you know get Raja the best healer in the game instead? Also he leaves for like 70% of the game to add to his many faults
Rune Walsh: 10/10 - Double shields laugh at things making him basically unkillable. His offence is fine and while it gets weaker what does it matter? You have a fucking unkillable bastard with you and who do you have to fill his slot anyway? Also owns Lassic hard.
Gryz: 2/10 - Moves are useless, damage and hp aren't as good as they should be. Taking him at endgame is the worst choice by far. Even Hahn has him beat.
Rika: 9/10 - I was going to say people rate her too highly but then I remembered she actually deserves the high scores. Damage, healing, speed and best of all the buffs are excellant.
Demi: 4/10 - She isn't bad but you have her for a shortish stretch and there is little point of taking her at endgame because you have Wren.
Wren: 7/10 - Barrier is an awesome buff and he will get it off because nothing in game can OHKO him hitting weakness or not, he just has too much HP too be killed. He is however deadweight against Lassic where he has to recover basically every turn to stay alive and that isn't cool as Lassic is the hardest boss in the game by far.
Raja: 7/10 Double shields save him quite a bit as he can't be taken out in a turn. He has no offence against randoms but he rips Dark force and the final boss apart as if I'm remembering correctly he has game best damage against them. The healing is also godlike and the reason you take him along. The final boss would actually be hard if you didn't have him with you.
Kyra Tierny: 5/10 - Alys + at a time you couldn't give a shit. Outclassed by Rune at damage and outclassed by Raja at healing. She isn't too bad regardless though and is the second best option when deciding who to take.
Seth: 7/10 - He has one dungeon because yeah you can take him along to a second if you wish but not only is he aweful there but you'd be wasting xp. In his one dungeon though he is pretty godlike as Deathspell hits really often and kills the big guys in one while Corrosion kills all the little guys also in one. Seth pretty much solos that dungeon.