I keep saying this in chat, and various other sources have been saying it too, but people don't seem to get it:
Beatrix offers nothing for the Nightmare that dedicated White Mages/Sages don't already offer unless you have Save the Queen, and even then, all she offers is some durability. People seem to insist on using her because OMG DIFFERENT KIND OF CHARACTER WITH WHITE 5!!! failing to recognize that Beatrix just isn't a good healer or anything like that. Generally speaking, White Magic on Paladins exists for Protect/Shellga, and Esuna (Dispel is almost never meaningful thanks to Banishing Raid, though I'll grant the Nightmare is an exception.)
Tangentially, Celes wouldn't be any better than Beatrix in the Nightmare Abyss anyway even with her Magic Lure, simply because she lacks Synergy. Beatrix has White 5 which is the only reason people keep bringing her up, Celes is White 3 right now, gets White 4 with Record Dive; her GAME BEST RES!!! isn't game best anymore when others are getting Synergy on gear while she isn't (on top of those characters getting +10 levels, though some are stuck at 65.) The only thing she'd offer is Magic Shield, really.
It's amazing how stubborn people are though with particular characters in trying to find uses for them. Beatrix just doesn't have the White Mage stats to be relevant in the abyss, and her Soul Breaks don't compliment the Nightmare either. People like to forget that Evrae has ludicrous defensive stats, which White Magic compensates for by hitting 3x damage (and often hits weakness too, so 6x in practice), so stuff like Saint's Cross even if it could hit him (which unless it's Cecil or Leon with a Bow, it won't) would do pretty shitty damage, and it triggers a counter. Her Soul Breaks are entirely physical oriented, the only good one is Rose of May for this thanks to the Defense Boost. The only reason she can get by with Save the Queen is because is because it's a Sword with an actual Mind stat allowing her to join in. Otherwise, there's little reason to use her over an actual White Mage who would have considerably higher Mind, and probably a more valuable Soul Break.
Had to get that off my chest, but it really just gets annoying seeing people go "OMG I COULD USE BEATRIX!" and basically ignore the bajillion guides out there that would highlight WHY this won't work beyond Esuna/Dispel/ST Healbot with higher HP. I don't hate Beatrix or anything, and she's certainly a good character overall, but good lord people just seem to not get it through their heads that her build is not particularly helpful in the White Mage Nightmare.
It'll also be useful for the Nightmare itself, where having multiple AoE heals -actually helps-. If it's any consolation, Hymn of the Fayth keeps Yuna a completely legit PC by itself even in these days and it's her best relic bar none even now.
I can vouch for the fact that HotF has been a god send and is the sole reason I bring Yuna to every single high level content where I need a legit party. I got both Eiko and Aerith's SSBs during the celebration and neither has seen use over Yuna (Reraise just isn't that great of a secondary effect.) I only now finally got a Medica that could possibly replace Yuna in Oerba's Boon and even that feels more niche, since Heavy Regen is always useful, Protectga on a Medica is more nice for flexibility than anything else.
Speaking of which, trying to plan for the Nightmare whihc I'm not tackling until weekend is over. Here's what I'm thinking:
Team:
Tyro
Yuna
Aerith
Eiko
Vanille
Tyro has SG, the other 4 all have Medicas, thus my best White Mage options. Trying to figure out who gets what. I'm thinking I give Phantasm to Tyro, and hand him one of Esuna or Dispel. Doing so means I can focus entirely on Magic for him, and thus he won't compete for all the Mind-based equips. Calculating, I should be able to get Tyro to about 400 Magic which is about 5k damage with Phantasm, which should be similar to what my White Mages will do. Phantasm also means one less skill that the girls will fight over.
My options are at the moment:
Diaga (R4)
Diara (R5)
Curaga (R5)
Curaja (R5)
Curaise (R3)
Considering I have Oerba's Boon, I might forego Protectga entirely and rely on that. With the massive Mind stat, and using Oerba's Boon from the get go, that should last more than enough, so that should free up a space. I'll probably want something offensive on Yuna so she can build up her gauge quicker. I might be able to get away without Shellga, since Eiko has that as a default, but that has the issue of needing to build up to it first, and since I'm using Tyro, Mako's Might takes priority on him, and thinking the other goes to Vanille. Also worth noting is I have the FF6 Chain Flail which probably goes to Aerith since Eiko has the same Soul Break anyway, and her default is clearly worse; this would add another shot of Diara here and there.
So I'm thinking a set up of something like this:
Tyro: Phantasm, Esuna, Dr. Mog's Teachings
Yuna: Curaga, Dispel, Knight's Charge
Vanille: Curaise, Raise, Mako's Might
Eiko: Curaja, Diara, Some Mind Boosting Materia (if I can get Penelo's, that'd be ideal)
Aerith: Shellga, Diaga, Ace Striker (since she's getting the one offensive Soul Break I have, might as well get her charging it faster)
Roaming Warrior: Either Divine Guardian or Mighty Guard VIII. Hastega is the one thing I don't have, and both offer side effects better than others; Sazh's Boon is also a potential, if clearly worse.
Any thoughts?
