Wild ARMs 5 Ranking Discussion (VERY LIKELY SPOILERS)

[Grefter]

If the plot stuff is like Id then I would say there is a precedent there and allows you to dodge the Lezard like problems.  I would say that would be a good solution.

[Talaysen]

Wouldn't ranking Avril as two seperate duellers have the potential to be problematic with regards to her fighting herself/with herself in a postseason team battle? Granted that I know nothing about the game whatsoever this might not be as unwanted as it would first appear though.

She fights herself in-game so there's not really a problem here.  Actually I don't see a problem even if this wasn't the case...

I'm fairly obviously joking about DNRing Avril.  >_>

That's what I thought at first but then you said DNR in the rankings.  Which made it look like you were actually serious about the DNR but trying to make it look not so serious.

I'm a huge proponent of plot importance for ranking characters, which is why I'm all for ranking Volsung as well (and was for Blue, Riki, Lute, etc.).

There's a difference between someone being plot important enough to rank and someone who is plot important enough to rank and is Bluelike.  >.>

Votesplit issues have been talked about in the past for some characters as being enough to make them unrankable (such as Ryu5), and with her, it is a big difference.

Ryu5 is pretty much Bluelike so that's different!

I'm all for ranking her, just there will be some type of votesplit on her.  It might actually be best to rank her as one entity, and let people do as they please (like we do with Hrist, since she is the same person, just with different forms...although this is different forms in the same game...brain!). 

Actually, Hrist is a good example, since that's a votesplit that we simply can't come to agreement about.  People who never played VP2 are going to see her as Light.  People who played VP2 aren't.  And no amount of arguing details about the plot behind the forms or anything can do anything about it.  In the case of Avril, it's possible for us to argue and perhaps sway people to one view or another, meaning there's a better chance of this votesplit not being as big of a problem.

Still, two Avrils is an option, as I mentioned earlier, so it's not like it's all completely screwed.

Yeah, and like I said, I like this option.  It certainly allows us to rank a plot-important dueller without having any problems with votesplit.  To be honest, I don't understand why people who don't allow IQA as a valid form aren't on this train.  If it's as much of a different "person" to disallow the form, then why isn't it enough of a different "person" to rank as a different person?

[VySaika]

Already got hit with the SPOILARS for this in chat at one point, so I'll weigh in on the Avril thing despite having not gotten that far in game...

Honestly, I'd rank them both if the IQA form is rankable, which it seems to be. I mean, if they're seperate enough to fight eachother in-game, then there's no reason at all not to rank both in the DL.

[mia~]

RE: Avril.
PC cast of WA5 is a bit dry thanks to Mediums. The option to "spice up" one of those boring PC's, either by causing a massive freaking vote split (aka rank only one Avril) or maybe cause confusion to people who don't pay attention (aka rank both Avril's) are both SURE FINE options in comparison to DNR, which really sounds really stupid for an important plot character such as Avril. Neither form is like, "Omg retardedly broken!!!" so...~

Anyway, inb4 a 20pg "Oh noes you can't rank Ice Queen form because it was in her mind so clearly hurf durf" argument.

Oh, and for the sake of being an ass, if you decide to only rank PC Avril/one Avril, and specifically put "AVRIL", then on technicality, people should only vote for PC Avril because the Ice Queen Avril is specifically the "Ice Queen", not just Avril. Lulz.

[Talaysen]

Oh, and for the sake of being an ass, if you decide to only rank PC Avril/one Avril, and specifically put "AVRIL", then on technicality, people should only vote for PC Avril because the Ice Queen Avril is specifically the "Ice Queen", not just Avril. Lulz.

You mean the same Ice Queen that PC Avril is called in the game?

[mia~]

But Dean's speech...!!! "Avril is the Ice Queen and the Ice Queen is Avril?! Whoamgzmanwtfuxdis SO CONFUSING!1?!?!1?!?! Avril y u ddosing mah brain quit zerg rushing bitch ffff"

[Ultradude]

Alright, finally weighing in with my opinion.

First, Avril. I say rank both. I hadn't really thought of that before, and was ready to deal with an annoying votesplit, but ranking Avril and Ice Queen separately sounds like a feasible solution, and even has a precedent with Fei and Id. Granted, they don't even look different unlike Fei and Id, but it's the same concept in principle, so I'd support it all the way. This leaves Mountain Medium or not as the only votesplit on Avril, and a fairly small one (mid-high light vs. low middle).

I'd also support Volsung, though again, that's a case of not allowing double act chains since I've never seen him do it. Granted, it wasn't exactly a long fight. I think he can use Double Action + Readying Sword + GZ Nemesis, then use Double Action on his next turn, move to Gram-Zanber, Readying Sword, GZ Nemesis all within that double act? Pretty nasty. Not holding them to taking the turns to start using moves probably helps >_>

Preliminary ranking opinions:

Dean: He's got... okay HP, decent Def and Res, not too fail Rfx, mehish damage. Alternately, not taken against Mediums (which is what I think I'll do) he's got pretty much average HP, Rfx, and damage, with a speed option in the XERD_003SS or Mithral Guard, and uh... Double Critical for healers? Light, not a good or bad one.

Rebecca: Averagish HP, Def, crappy Res, decent Rfx, about average damage. She can get some speed if she doesn't mind sacrificing some Def, and Continuous Attack might come into play? Yeah, a slightly different Dean, Light.

Avril: Mountain Medium, is held against average with mediums included for now. Excellent (curve shredding!) HP and Def, with defensive buffing, (crappy) regen if you allow LP, Blocker for a further anti-phsyical game alongside the maybe useful Critical Heal. I ignore LP for damage, so she's a bit above average there. Granted, Rfx isn't so hot, but she's durable enough to handle it pretty well, blah blah can trade off Def for Rfx.. So, a decent physical slugfesting Low Middle, with minor tricks.

Greg: Sword Medium (I like giving any justifiable mediums, sue me >_>). He has the same excellent HP as Avril, with good Def but mediocre Res. Also slow, but armor. Gamebest damage by a little though, I don't give him leypoints (I think...) so it's not all that great. Might let him get one on the second turn? Hyper and Quicken could both be pretty useful, and if it's rate is good so could having Counter with a Comet Mark. Plus, Sonic Vision and Intrude. A decent Middle, maybe high. Want to know how good Hyper and Quicken are.

Carol: Luck Medium yo! HP and Def are bad with Greg and Avril's effect on average with Mediums. Gamebest Res by a longshot helps make up for it, combined with excellent speed to use her decent parasitic attack Life Drain. Fragile and Slow Down both aid her game a fair bit, and having a 25 FP bonus to work with combined with all of that might see her to a Chapapanga. An okay Middle, really held back by the HP and only healing 25% with Life Drain.

Chuck: Moon Medium fun. Fast, though lacking HP. Def isn't so bad, though, same with Res, and all that with Status lock makes him kinda hard to kill. Damage starts off pretty average, but it's when he starts losing HP that he becomes threatening. Damage Up quickly racks up the damage if the fight doesn't end quickly, and dropping him below 25% activates the Prism Staff, giving him 25 FP which may get him to an Intrude, which is lethal with Damage Up at such low HP. The HP and low initial damage hurt, but that speed and limit-esque fighting style make him a competent Middle.

Bosses!

Nightburn: Kinda fast, with decent HP - a little ways over PC - that isn't too hurt by the lowish Def, and he has above average Res. Halves two elements, though fire weakness hurts a bit. Dual Impulse is decent 3HKO damage, and Graviton is a nice trick, since I toss turn limits. Low Heavy, though a potential downgrader in a strong pool.

IQA: Fun dueler. Fast, for one, which is kind of a WA5 thing. Decent enough HP, maybe 1.5x. She starts in that Wind LP, so I let her have it, giving her a solid 2HKO wind magic, with a passable physical and water magic. 4D Pocket autowins against most PCs, to boot, if it's anything like Belial's. If her Blocker skills are both really about 33%, she becomes a good bit harder to kill, and with the speed, PC killing, and decent damage makes a solid Low Godlike.

Note: Taking PCs against the averages listed for Fereydoon, since you can, after all, fight them all in any order.

Persephone: That good speed with Quicken? Yes please, and I allow Gatling Gun to focus since I had to feel one of those when I fought her. Only fair for the Godlikes to eat that pain >_>. With decent HP and defenses, and some bare 2HKO fire magic rounds out a very solid Godlike package. Gatling Gun... is pain...

Fereydoon: Yoinks. Even faster than Persephone, he doesn't need her Quicken spell to lap people. He also has the best HP of the Sentinels to boot, with decent enough defenses. Laser Silhouette kills PCs, and inflicts very solid damage on bosses, his speed compensating for the delay on the attack. Magic sucks, but Laser Silhouette's damage is fixed so it doesn't matter. Godlike.

Elvis: Even faster! HP is decent, with good Def (but iffy Res)! Damage, not as good. Hydro Pressure is okay water magic, and Variant Attack hurts like hell at low HP. Blocker... depends on the rate. Those elemental weaknesses are just bad though, so he's very much the anti-physical Sentinel, hating mages in general. Plus, his damage takes a while to get going, so only Heavy/Godlike borderline.

Kartikeya: Yay psycho. Not quite so fast as his fellows, though he keeps up a respectable HP total, with a defensive stat spread much like Elvis. Biggest problem? His big scary delay attack barely OHKOs, and doesn't even have fixed damage, so it fails against Mog >_>. Barely 2HKOing with Sky Twister doesn't make up for it much. The only Sentinel to be a definite Heavy, though still a good one.

Volsung: Well, the HP is certainly solid, though the defenses not so much so. Starts off with kind of mediocre speed for a WA5 boss, only a little above average. Of course, then he moves, and Double Acts into a GZ Nemesis, which kicks your ass. Then he suddenly becomes a freaky speed demon, doubling Heavy Crush for an effective solid 2HKO, Stone Bullet for an effective 1HKO earth magic, or just going and grabbing Gram-Zanber for another overkill GZ Nemesis. With my ignoring of turn limits, and allowing him to Double Act without chaining them (for now at least, if I can be convinced of it he'll just be a DNR uber-godlike), that initial shot of GZ Nemesis, and having speed and durability to fire it off, followed by even better speed with a continued flurry of damage... yeah, High Godlike under my current view of him, and a slim championship contender.

[074]

Hnn.  WA5's a bit iffy to me due to the fact that, unlike WA4 and WA3, it's bland on both ends (At least 3 had interesting enough bosses as a rank).  However, were I to rank them?

PCs:
Dean: Light.  Crit boost doesn't help him at all here, given that he can't access Sonic Vision due to a distinct lack of mediums.
Rebecca: Light.  Faster, at least.  That's all you can say for her, though.
Avril: Light without Mediums, Light/Middle if you allow Mountain (which I do, in her case).  She's at least got the benefit of having the gamebest physical power.  Pity she can't do anything with it.
Greg: Middle.  Having cast-best damage by a good deal will do this, and there's no real argument about being unable to move onto LPs assuming a standard battlefield, now that everyone has Move&Attack, effectively.
Carol: Middle.  Arguably the other good PC dueller in the cast.  120% speed with Slow Down and cheap ITD parasitic healing.  It's a low 3HKO, but the speed game's enough to make it hurt.  Hates blitzing physical-users, though.
Chuck:OBSERVE AND LEY CHANGE FOR GODLIKE.  In all seriousness, though, Low Middle.  He's got Carol's speed level and status immunity, and sort of a limit.  Sort of.  Wishes he had more.  A lot more.

Bosses:
Nightburn: Middle.  Under the most favorable interpretations, he's around 1.2x PCHP.  Around the least, he's 2HKOed by average.  The crappy DEF and fire weakness don't help his case, either.  Dual Impulse misses a 2HKO to average, Graviton's not coming out except against damageless healers, and his speed doesn't even begin to resemble that of the WA4 bosses, only being at roughly 127% average.  Unimpressive boss overall.

Ice Queen Avril: DNR.  While there are comparisons to Id, there is one major difference.  With Id, you fight his physical manifestation in the real world, in a normal boss battle.  With IQA, while she does occasionally manifest in the real world, I do not count 'mindscape' battles as such.  Were she to be ranked, however, she has a number of very significant advantages which would lend her to be a solid Heavy.  Above-average durability under any circumstance, Hyper to boost damage, Blocker, and 145% average speed.  Also, Hi-Blast makes her even nastier if you factor in Leypoints.

Persephone: Ouch.  She's fairly durable, has above-average speed before Quicken (which can be used first round and boosts it from 120% average to 144% average), and -will- overkill (2.46x ITD, in fact), no doubt about it, once she hits the turn during which she can use Gatling Gun.  Cremation and Fire immunity also help.  This is enough for Heavy/Godlike, or possibly Low Godlike, though the slowness of her big damage and the fact that she's not -that- durable keep her form holding a significant position.  Will rip Magus a new one with that, though.

Fereydoon: Laser Silhouette kills any PC that isn't death-immune and has less than 1.25x average HP.  That much is obvious.  But what of him aside from that?  Fast and fairly durable, even with the subpar defense average damage 4-5HKOs him pending on interpretation.  Earth is not such a common element, so he 3HKOs nicely with Stone Bullet.  Not that he cares about that, given the terror that is Laser Silhouette.  1.4x average speed is definitely better than a majority of PCs.  Too bad his uberdamage is also not near that of Persephone's, and that he still doesn't have WA4 boss speed.  Heavy/Godlike.

Elvis: Durability's gone down.  This is not debatable at all if you fight him in order.  However, it hasn't gone down too much, and he gets a very significant damage boost in exchange.  Blocker also helps, though it's not the 50% that the stupid lying stat topic mentioned.  Rapid Punch barely misses a 2HKO, and Hydro Pressure manages that against those who don't have water resistances.  Variant Attack serves as a limit of sorts, but it wasn't as significant as the others from what I remember seeing.  Sadly, that fire weakness does hurt.  Earth and Wind, too, but those elements aren't as notably widespread as fire is.  Low Godlike.

Kartikeya: BGM for Epic Fail.  Aside from that, I'd argue that he's the worst of the Sentinels after looking at stats here.  His durability is a bit higher than Elvis', and the damage is similar, but that's about all that's going for him in comparison.  With only 1.14x average speed, and his big damage coming after Turn 5, he's forced to rely on his physical and Sky Twister for damage until then--and Lock-ON is only 1xPCHP damage by comparison.  Still a Heavy/Godlike of some sort, at least, but there's not as much that's so threatening about him.  Debatable DNR on duel form if it can pull infinite turns bullshit, which it sounds like it can.

Volsung: Debatable DNR.  While infinite turns, and the resulting "I automatically win once I get my third turn" is a significant issue, it should be noted that damage in Godlike is high, and that he only has average speed--in essence, there is a large number of Godlikes who I believe could off him before he hit the 3-turn mark (including, amusingly, all of the Sentinels.)  The fact that he will likely get killed by most Godlikes before he can start up Infinite Turn Works is persuading me that he is, in a sense, a Godlike spoiler.  Tentative ranking of Godlike for now due to the fact that a good deal of damage-oriented Godlikes could likely off him before that third turn.  Reminds me a bit of Balgaine, only with fewer interpretation issues.


(Edited.  Fixed the error that was the result of the stupid lying stat topic, and my distinct lack of memory of details about the bossfights.)

[Talaysen]

Ultradude, I just wanted to point out a few things.  First, the effects of DEF and RES are small.  Carol's gamebest RES only drops magic down to 91%, assuming you even convert to division.  Otherwise it just shaves off about 3-4% damage.

Second, Carol's Fragile is useless for Life Drain since Life Drain ignores defense.  Has other uses maybe, but that ain't one of them!

Third, if you allow LPs for anyone, you should allow them for Greg's damage as well.  I'm not sure on your stance here (it's not clear from the post), but I just wanted to point out that allowing it for say Avril and Carol and not for Greg is no good.  However, I can still see ignoring it for the damage average itself.

Actually, you didn't even mention the boost Carol gets from the LP!  Her speed goes up to 125% when sitting on one, which is notable.  Chuck gets the same kind of boost, too, but his damage being melee may cause you to not allow that for him (not sure how I feel on that one!).  Same thing for Avril, I guess.


Namagomi, I'm really doubting Elvis's Blocker is 50%, considering NEB got below 10% on it and probably ran more trials than I did.

[Ultradude]

Pointing out Avril's regen was mostly just because it's there, though I'm still not entirely decided on Leypoints. Since they don't take a turn to get to, I still might allow them (Greg especially given that movement ability of his Sword Medium) but it's not too hard to block them off pretty much at will in-game. Bosses, though, get any leypoints they start on, unless they're fighting a ranged fighter and want to use a melee attack. Suffice to say, I'm not entirely sure where I am yet, so I'm ignoring LPs entirely for now. I'll factor them in where necessary once I come to a final conclusion, though I intend to check the overall effects that they have on the entire cast if no one else has the info, i.e. the amount of regen Avril gets from leypoints.

Also, trying to find justification for giving Dean and Rebecca mediums, which will never happen anyways. Even just splitting the leftovers, Sea and Sky, between them doesn't do much for them, especially Dean with his crappy magical stats all around, even with the mediums. Plus, the question of who gets which medium >_>

I thought I noticed defense stats having more of an effect in game, but that must have just been my imagination. So basically only the extreme outliers notice any real effects from their defense.

As for Fragile, it allows her to tweak for attack on her weapon if, for some reason, she really needs to go physical. If Life Drain is reflectable, she might need this, and I'm sure someone in middle has a trick that would make physicals necessary if it isn't. Though, she probably isn't winning many fights on just her physical no matter how she sets it up, even with Fragile. Probably dies long before 100 FP.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Dean - Mountain, Avril - Sky, Rebecca - Sea (though this last is mostly process of elimination) always made sense to me as far as parcelling out the remaining mediums, not that I do this. Surprised at the Avril/Mountain support; the claim there is pretty terrible IMO. <_<

[Sierra]

What is Avril's claim on Mountain, anyway? Been a while since I played WA5.

[Cmdr_King]

The Baskar's basically hand it over to her saying "this is yours, your majesty".

[Talaysen]

I had a post here earlier but it got eaten apparently.  Sadness.

Ultradude, enemy defense values matter more than PCs, maybe that's what you remember?  Or the fact that defense tends to matter more earlier on, IIRC?  I dunno.

Fragile is a straight +100 to Carol's damage, so it goes from like 900 to 1000.  This means she needs to live 10 turns to even break even on damage.  I guess it could come into play for crappy limits or heal locking frail healers (or pushing a 4HKO to a 3HKO to help get 100 FP)?  I dunno.  There are theoretical uses and I'm not sure any will come up.

And I think you're right on Life Drain being reflectable... though that does need testing.  If it ever comes up, which I doubt.

P.S. I think Regenerate was 1/8 mHP, but don't quote me on that.

[Ultradude]

Ah. I do tend to notice something early on, take note of it, then never notice if it changes over time. I'll concede the point on Fragile, though, weird things like that will probably only come up if Carol becomes a popular middle and gets lots of matches.

Anyways, going with the leftover mediums, Rebecca seems more like a Sea user, given the "girlfriend healer" cliche, which can't apply to Avril if you give her Mountain Medium. Of course, if you allow leypoints, Dean can probably get some good use out of the Sky Medium, though making him a mage in the DL seems... odd, to say the least. Again, this is really stretching the bounds of what even makes sense to do, and is mostly a weak attempt to liven up the cast a little more. I'd have no objections if you can find anything better, and Tony does kinda give Sky and Sea directly to Dean and Rebecca, but it's a weak claim given that Avril wants the early Sky the most in game, and deciding who between Dean and Rebecca gets what... yeah, it's a mess. Better to just ignore them altogether, unless someone else has some extra justification.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Just weighing in.

I'd support ranking both Avril and IceQueen Avril, it's a small cast, but if we're still set on only ranking one Avril, I'd prefer IQA over PC Avril. I always allow duelers their best possible forms, and since Avril would have a claim to this boss form, that's how I'd vote on her.

Similarly, I'd allow Dean and Rebecca access to a Medium. While Dean would go best with Mountain (and his small gameplay claim to it based on the dungeon it's in), there's seems to be a wave of support for Mountain Medium Avril, and it'd be nice if we could come to an agreement. Sky Dean doesn't really help out his ranking much, but it gives him some options. Sea Rebecca is actually pretty useful. So for now, that's the arbitrary way I'd divide out the Mediums. Alternately, if the stat topic were expanded to include multiple forms of these characters, then I could see allowing Dean and Rebecca either Medium, rank them on an average of both, and let each voter decide which Medium they get. As in, take the average stats of Dean w/ Sky and Dean w/ Sea, and then choose a rank based on the strengths and weaknesses of both skillsets, probably low middle in this case. Same idea with Rebecca.

I'm all for both Avril's, but if she's only ranked as a PC, then I'd give her the Mountain Medium. Otherwise, her PC form is only important for the cast averages.

Greg, Carol, and Chuck all get their respective Mediums and access to LPs, though they have to move to one on their first turn.

Rank Nightburn, Fereydoon, Persephone, Elvis, all various shades of Heavy or Godlike.

I'd rank Karti and Volsung, but ban infinite turn looping to avoid them from being Bluelike. It doesn't seem like an issue really. Both of them are pretty solid Godlikes without the infinite turns, and even if some people allow the infinite turns, it's not a huge votesplit and there's probably not many that see that ability as a legal interp.

-Djinn

[Talaysen]

Okay, allowing Dean and Rebecca their choice of Sky/Sea is just bad.  That's giving a benefit to two people because they have NO claim to a medium, which is just completely wrong.  This is also why I'm completely against giving them mediums that they "do best with", because that's basically the same thing.

I'm honestly not sure why we can't just give Avril and Dean both the Mountain Medium.  You can have multiple copies of it and they both have a claim to it.  Doesn't seem that difficult but whatever.  Both claims are kind of shoddy anyways and I'm inclined to take Avril's as the stronger of the two.

Rebecca's completely screwed regardless.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Okay, allowing Dean and Rebecca their choice of Sky/Sea is just bad.  That's giving a benefit to two people because they have NO claim to a medium, which is just completely wrong.  This is also why I'm completely against giving them mediums that they "do best with", because that's basically the same thing.

I'm honestly not sure why we can't just give Avril and Dean both the Mountain Medium.  You can have multiple copies of it and they both have a claim to it.  Doesn't seem that difficult but whatever.  Both claims are kind of shoddy anyways and I'm inclined to take Avril's as the stronger of the two.

Rebecca's completely screwed regardless.

Hmm... it was just an idea, I figured I would try to come up with an interp based on the gameplay, and in the game you could give both of them whichever Mediums they wanted. However, I see your point.

Giving the Mountain Medium to both Avril and Dean is an idea I could get behind though. It makes sense from a gameplay/plot perspective AND it adds some skills of interest to the otherwise-fodder duelers there.

I'd still want Rebecca to get something, but I suppose I could live with only -one- Medium-less bland Light PC ranked from this game. It almost makes her unique in her fail... >.>;;

[Pyro]

Desire to kill people: growing [/Rebecca fanboyism]

Anyway. I can't see making an exception for this cast and handing them Mediums while other casts (hi FF8) get nothing in that respect. Its inconsistent with how we've done things in the past.

I'm also rather offended by Greg, Cuck, and Carol being suddenly super-awesome stat-wise because they have defined mediums while Rebecca/Dean/Avril don't. I'd say that giving them the skillset of the mediums should be fine but the stats are a big no (I also see no non-plot reason to give Greg Sword, but if plot equips are okay with you then go for it). Alternatively, pick the medium with the best stat boosts (arbitrary, I know) and hand those boosts to Rebecca, Dean, and Avril.

I don't think any kind of "divide up mediums" idea is really going to get off the ground for the majority of the DL.

[Rozalia]

Anyway. I can't see making an exception for this cast and handing them Mediums while other casts (hi FF8) get nothing in that respect. Its inconsistent with how we've done things in the past.

FF8 I think is a different case. They have no arguement to nothing except squall who gets Shiva, however you spell the lighting bird and maybe irit.

Squall is in fact very similer to this case here. He gets two summons handed to him that are meant for him, they are not missable or ungetable. Even if you don't log on to the computer you'll still aquire them outside.
Yes you also get a character right after that you can junction the summons to also but the computer clearly states the summons are meant for him. In fact Squall proberly has a somewhat better case to summons then Dean or Rebecca have to mediums.

Most people don't allow him to use those summons. A bit unfair for Squall if Dean or rebecca get mediums isn't it?

[OblivionKnight]

Rinoa could be argued to get Leviathan due to the demo!  (I'm not completely unserious on this...I think >_>)

For the WA5 cast, there are enough blanks to make 6 of each medium, so...you could say they have full options, which makes them all carbon-copies mostly, but at least provides each of them with variety to use in any division?  I don't do that, but it's possible.  And...is representative of in-game, for what it's worth. 

And Rebecca's not completely screwed!  Take her temp form vs. SHOVEL DEAN!  2x (or 1.5x?  Have to check) average damage with a good physical (accurate) that hits weakness on fliers!  Pwns the Peg Knights!  But yeah >_>

On a more serious note, the PC cast is generally oddly fucked, but that's how it goes.  People go with plot theories (Margaret with a Crucifix!  Avril with Mountain!) to make things more interesting when the cast gets blandish.  I honestly, personally, am thinking of something to do with FF8 myself...and maybe even FF7.  We will have to see, though.  With WA5, I think I'd probably see Dean and Rebecca with no mediums on the PC cast, since I cannot justify one on either of them...though having enough mediums to go around with blanks is a bit 0_o at the moment. 

[Dark Holy Elf]

I also see no non-plot reason to give Greg Sword

Hmm, it's never actually equipped on him, right? Pretty shaky situation if so.

Though there is the gameplay reason of him having the highest Attack stat for... quite a very long while (I want to say it's until the 19th Dragon Fossil pushes Avril past him?), making him a logical candidate for Sword. Generally speaking, if plot arguments can back themselves up with at least -some- gameplay, I am much more likely to bite. It's a much stronger plot argument than most, to boot (he explicitly made use of the thing, I believe).