Wild ARMs 4th Detonator:
Jude Maverick: 6/10
He's certainly not as bad as people initially painted him in the first ranking topic. My main issue with Jude is that he lacks that *something* that makes stand out. Utility roles in WA games don't tend to fare well (see: Jet). It's better in WA4 though as Jude is certainly more powerful than some of the other utility type characters in the series. For one thing, Joint Struggle is a great early to mid-game damage source. The only issue is having to set it up. In fact, Joint Struggle is better than Intrude in some cases since it deals more damage, is a on a faster character and doesn't consume FP. Next, Jude also has Item Steal, which on occasion, lets you rack up some really powerful badges well before they should be available. Since Jude's offensive role decreases as the game progresses, this gives you lots of chances and you will more likely than not luck out at some point. Finally, Jude's early game performance is quite strong. Well before enemy HP goes up and before the other characters start getting their key skills, Jude generally performs the best since at that point his offense is quite good. Fast character + decent offense and range? Yep, sounds pretty awesome. Of course, then late game starts sinking in, and Jude just kind of drops and drops.
Things I would do to make Jude more powerful? Make his tank role better (if he can't evade, at least let his Guard speed up his turn or heal him), and give more chests that provide status items so you get an occasional shot at hitting something with status. Probably improve the upgrade limit on the Shapeshifter and change the growth ratio on it too, since as is the Shapeshifter is a huge piece of crap.
Arnaud G. Vasquez: 9/10
Like Jude, Arnaud performs pretty good from the start. Unlike Jude, Arnaud never really goes bad. He has a pretty consistent level of performance. Being the game's most durable character counts for something in bad random draws and the game's variety of mish-mash in offense types. But that's not what really makes Arnaud great. He has a wide variety of skills that just fits so well into the game. As NEB already touched upon, Arnaud is the master at locking down single targets. Slow Down, Shut Out, Illusion, Extend basically screw enemies up horribly. Plus after Illusion, you're pretty safe to waltz in and bait physicals, building lots of FP for Raq's Intrude chains. In randoms, where the single target lock down is less important, Arnaud has the game's only form of Move and Act with Jump and Act. In WA5, this was a free action and it made things easier certainly. In WA4, you're paying 25 FP for it, but Jesus, is the skill actually worth the cost. It has some other fringe benefits such as hopping over enemy occupied HEXes and taking all allies with you, but for the most part, it really shows how powerful Movement and Acting in the same turn is. Basically, in a fight, Jump has a much higher chance to be used than you would expect since you can use it to snipe out more threatening targets, set up a Material (if you have 50 FP), regroup, etc. Oh and Arnaud's offense? It's fine for the most part. He gets the benefit of using elements and strengthening with gems to keep him relatively afloat (but it does flounder once in a while) in game. He's no Raquel, but he doesn't have to be. Packing any range offense and being the best users of gems/magic gives him a good chance to shine and a well enough niche overall that he doesn't trail behind Raquel overall.
Yulie Ahtreide: 7/10
FP Advantage is arguably the game's best passive skill. Setting up opening Jumps, Materials, Intrudes has such a huge impact on how quickly battles end or become non-threatening. Yulie's physical durability is a notable strike against her, but past that, she settles nicely into her little niche once she hits level 16-17 when she gets both Turn Shift and FP Advantage. At that point, all of Yulie's dead turns are basically copies of the next person's turn. In that situation she can actually do something, you stop Turn Shifting and take action. Packing an "I-win" button 90% of the time if she starts on an elemental HEX is worth brownies points. Yulie doesn't contribute much offensively, but she has a much more settled niche of when she's good than Jude does. And when her offense exists? It's actually pretty good. Just that the times when do exist are few.
Raquel Applegate: 9/10
The two best characters in WA4 have Move and Act skills. Raquel's is watered down to just attack. Of course, on Raquel, it might as well be Move and Act anyway. It's already been said, but it bears repeating: 25 FP Intrude is just ridiculous. You can triple the cost of the skill as in WA5, and it is still a good skill, let alone when it costs only 1/3rd the FP. Raquel has only two set backs. One is her early game performance, which is nowhere near as dominating. She needs to get her tools and other people's tools (Item Stealing a Tiny Flower, FP Advantage, Red Zone for example) before she's the juggernaut she is at the end of the game. And Two, in any situation which calls for some other action than hitting attack, Raquel is nowhere near as good either. If you need to slow the fight to a more managable pace, Raquel can't really do it other than hitting the enemy harder. If you want to steal/Capture Apples/Move enemies, Raquel can't do those either. Other than that, she's as good as most people have already noted. A physical powerhouse with great physical durability and the ability to literally one-chain bosses if you let her get going.
Kresnik Ahtreide: 5/10
Yes, I rather take Jude over Kresnik. Kresnik's most notable contribution are marginally better offense and Apoptosis. Well...his armor would be awesome if he was actually a long term character. But as is, the two times when you do get to use him, the first time, you give up Yulie's ability to instantly win when on an elemental HEX for more physical offense/durability. In a team of Jude (durable), Arnaud (evasive), Raquel (both), this doesn't mean much. I guess the offense is okay, but it really doesn't shine since he loses to Raquel and doesn't win against Arnaud. In the second, the dungeon is set up so that you'll be using Apoptosis a lot. Jude of course, benefits with Gadget Crush, and that's usually the better option if you do get to use it. So in the second fight, he's merely a body needed to use the Dual Tech and provides 50 FP. Mediocre overall I guess. Not terrible, but yeah.
