Sunday, 13 April 2014

Parties In RPGs (7th Dragon 2020 II)

High School Samurai Students!

Class: Samurai
Traits: Physical Damage, Tanky, Support, Status Effects, 100% Hit Rates
Rating: 9/10

Samurais in "7th Dragon" are pretty damn strong. While in most games you get your standard warrior class with decency in everything, the Samurai excel in almost everything here. They are your basic tank class, perhaps taking more hits than the Destroyer. They do the 2nd highest in terms of physical damage between all the classes in the game, they can buff the team well with a health buff which is VERY MUCH NEEDED against the likes of Takehaya. Whats more, a good deal of their Lai stance skills can inflict status effects on enemies, and they have a ton of attacks that hit with a 100% hit rate. Screw blind.

With very high damage, being extremely tanky, tankier than perhaps every class in the game, having the ability to inflict bleeds, stuns, burns and frostbites on enemies, the Samurai are your go to pick if you're playing the game for the first time. Having so many tools up their sleeves just makes them a very sensible choice! Before you know it, you'll be cleaning house with them. My one only issue with them is that to proc their extra turn, they need to take an extreme amount of damage, which is risky as hell. Their EX skills are pure damage, which is to be expected. The 2nd one hits AOE and applies bleed, but you'll probably be using the first one the most.

These guys do it in style.

Class: Trickster
Traits: Physical Damage, Fast, Evasion, Status Effects, Crits
Rating: 7/10

The trickster are an odd class. They thrive on hiding behind their allies and covering them with attacks from the darkness. Its a cowardly tactic befitting of them so, because they are very squishy. But by doing so, they also become the sole survivor of big attacks in most fights...they have a lot in their arms to bring a team back. Their damage may not be on the high side without sufficient buffs, but their strength lies in inflicting status effects on their enemies, reaping benefits off them, scoring crits and getting a ton of extra turns. The trickster can easily rake up the most extra turns out of all the classes.

They do primarily physical damage, and while its not the most impressive thing (they probably do the least out of all the classes except Idol and Hacker, which are pure support), they act fast, and will probably go first unless the enemy dragon is crazy fast. Their extra turn system thrives on  scoring critical hits, which can be fairly easy if they set up properly, but that's the thing, they require insane set-up, getting the full set of proper buffs for a crit storm probably needs about 3 turns. Status effects are their friends, and they have a ton of ways to stick these on enemies, the most noticeable way being their EX skills. While their EX skills don't do TOO much damage, the status effect sticks really profit them with their "Pain Eater" skill.

Destroyer? What about the girl? She looks too cute to be one!

Class: Destroyer
Traits: Physical Damage, Debuff, Counter
Rating: 7/10

The destroyer are a very simple minded bunch. They break shit, they kill shit, and they destroy, hence the name destroyer. Their single damage output is easily the highest in the entire game, they are great to have against bosses, and if they you play around to their D-depth mechanic, you can really make it big and deal major, major, MAJOR damage to bosses. The destroyers simply kick ass, their skills revolve around kicking ass, and nothing else. That means that if you're running a destroyer, you'll be running the risk of putting a pure damage dealer in your team with almost zero utility. The destroyer alone can fill the damage needs of your party if he/she gets going, so having two other support types in there can really help them out.

As mentioned earlier, the destroyer simply does the highest damage in the game to a SINGLE TARGET. They excel against major bosses, and do badly against multiple dragon encounters. The destroyers require some massive set up time for their extra turn combo, and even then, its luck based. Inflicting D-depth on your opponents is key, and if your destroyer manages to chain multiple skills in a single turn, he/she can absolutely decimate the enemy. They can inflict debuffs, more importantly, the defense debuff, which makes them hurt EVEN harder. They are also the perfect class to solo the game with, because if you can predict boss attacks, their counter abilities work wonders. Their EX skills destroy stuff, that's that.

Wrong part of town, baby.

Class: Psychic
Traits: Magical Damage, Healing, Support, Status Effects
Rating: 8/10

They say healers are absolutely important when you games such as this, but in the case of the "7th Dragon" series, its not entirely necessary. The psychic are the main healer class in the game, and while they ARE incredibly useful to have in almost EVERY team, its not a must to have them around. Not only are they the main healer class, they are also the primary mage class, and they are probably the only class in the entire game to hit the enemies with proper magic damage. In short, they can kick ass, they can save lives, and they look f**king badass as well. Using them to strike at an enemy's elemental weakness can really be one of your only hopes in a difficult battle.

They can inflict status effects like paralyze, frostbite and burn. While that is useful, its not particularly their best strength. Healing and magical damage are their best forte, but they can take a hit worth nuts. If any class were to go down to a powerful AOE attack in one hit, its the psychic, thus the samurai's HP buff. They go very well with the samurai, and these 2 together already make 2/3 of a potent beginner friendly team. You can't go wrong with the psychic if you want a relatively safe run through the game, just make sure to make them stay out of harms way, and they can kick ass OR save ass for you. Their EX skills are mixed, both reflecting on their traits. One deals major damage and severly debuffs the enemy, while one fully resurrects and heals all allies.


Class: Hacker
Traits: Support, Buffs, Debuffs, Status Effects
Rating: 6/10

The hackers are really, really situational with the addition of the idol. That doesn't mean they suck, they are just really hard to use efficiently. They have a lot of tools at their disposal, and they are the ultimate support machine in the game, they just have very little (or none at all in some situations) damage to provide in a dragged out fight. The buffs they provide are irreplaceable, but when all you get is buffs, sometimes its just not enough. They have the best EX skill in the game, but other than that, you really need to play to your best for the hacker to work, and even then, if they don't manage to hack the bosses, its all for naught. Some luck is involved here, and sometimes, luck isn't the most reliable thing.

The hackers do what they do best, and no one does it better than them. That's applying buffs. They have attack buffs, defense buffs, they can attach elements to their allies' attacks, and more. They can revive allies or heal them in a pinch, though their burst heal isn't much, its more of a sustained measure. They have a lot to provide here, but they also can provide a lot if they manage to pull off their hack mechanic. Against a hacked enemy, they can apply debuffs and status effects to no end, like attack/defense debuffs, burn, frostbite and more. But then again, its limited, because hacked enemies become un-hacked fast. As usual, they have 2 EX skills, one of which is the best in the game - turning your entire team invulnerable. The other hacks the enemy and does massive damage, which is also useful to some extent.

Fight! Fight! Go go team Murakumo!

Class: Idol
Traits: Team Syncing, Buffs, Mixed Damage, Evasion
Rating: 7/10

And here comes the Idol, the new class in "7th Dragon 2020 II". They are an oddball class, but that doesn't mean they are bad. They are somewhat similar to the hacker in the way that they are support characters, but they bring...quite a few things to the table that the hackers don't. For one, their class specific mechanic, the superstar mode. Through certain skill chains and by dodging attacks, they can increase their fever meter, and when that's maxed, the idols enter superstar mode, a mode where they become godly and receive a super buff to all their stats. Needless to say that in superstar mode, the idols become f**king beasts, though it doesn't last too long, so you'll need to make it count. Sad to say, it all depends, because the idol doesn't offer too much of one thing, they are more of a mixed batch.

They can call upon to team and have them perform coordinated attacks on the opponent, sometimes even procing high level abilities. This is luck based, but if you get lucky, you definitely score some really nice combos, like landing D-depths on your destroyer or crits on your trickster for extra turns. They can buff the team as well, but unlike the hacker, their buffs come with a penalty, so this must be used wisely (aka Attack form can be used as a finisher, nothing else). They can do some form of damage as well, but its wishy washy, nothing to the levels of the samurai, destroyer, psychic or even the trickster. The damage is decent in superstar, but you need to get there, which is mostly accomplished by evasion. Idols have a skill that allow them increased evasion, successful consecutive evasions lead to superstar. Their EX skills are...very situational. One instantly makes the idol enter superstar (this is the preferred EX skill), the other allows all allies to use their best skills (luck based).

I've played with every class before, but if you want team formations, I've got some in mind.

Team A (Beginner team)


Team B (Defensive team)

Psychic,Samurai, Hacker/Idol

Team C (Yolo team A)

Destroyer, Samurai, Trickster

Team D (Yolo team B)

Destroyer, Idol, Trickster

Team E (Team "F**k you")

Hacker, Idol, Hacker

Team F (Permastun team aka "Takehaya slayer")

Trickster, Trickster, Samurai