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We all must agree that shadow's doggo is the best character, those blocks are lifesavers man

Sabin can body slam a train. Nuff said

Umaro has a use even greater than the fanatic's tower: the coliseum. EVERYBODY in the coliseum is Umaro, except that they suck because they will randomly use all the most useless spells you've had them use because they've equipped Espers. But Umaro just bulls forward to kill things, like he always does. Other than that, yeah, the Dead Last character for sure

I'm 37 years old and this is by far my favorite Final Fantasy game and I've probably beaten the damn thing over a hundred times in my life if not more then 200. What I like to do is every time I beat the game the next time I beat the game I take something away from myself. For example, I will say okay next time I play through the game no Genji gloves. And then it becomes no Genji gloves no offering no economizer no Ultima spell excetera excetera. As for my list of worst to best, not that anybody gives a shit. I'm basing these characters in their overall value throughout the game, not just their usefullness at the end of the game and how much I like playing with them. 14. Gogo: Just because he can equip different skills is silly because he can still just use 1 skill at a time. Plus he can't equip espers for stat upgrades and he's kind of slow and weak. 13: Setzer: Slot ability is retarded. Fixed dice with Offering is Over Powered as Fuck but you don't get it until the end of the game so these 2 cats usually wait in the airship while I do Kefka's tower. 12: Mog: Water Rondo is a MAJOR pain in the ass to get and you can only get it in the World of Balance. His dances can be really cool, though (when they actually work). Also, having him heal your party for the umpteenth time when teammates are dead is annoying. Also, he's nothing special as a fighter or spell caster. 11. Strago: Weak, Slow, and his Lores, while some of them are pretty cool (Grand Train rapes), they cost too much MP. Also you get him too late in both worlds to be able to level him up much. Good Magic user, though. 10. Locke: Fastest character in the game (give him Odin for about 20 level ups for some real speed) means more turns. He's a below average fighter but he has some really cool character specific weapons, armor, and relics and the capture ability will net you tons of cool shit throughout the game. Also, his storyline is the best. 9. Umaro: A tank that is really usefull in the Tower of Fanatics and is a great character to partner with... 8. Cyan: Cyan's utility increases with Umaro in your party because his Swordtech is really cool and having a character continuing to fight while Cyan powers up is a big plus. 7. Relm: Weak and slow. Stupid ability. Great magic power. You get her too late. I end up putting a Heal Rod on her and make her a healer usually. 6. Sabin: Bum Rush kicks ass and so does he. Strong, good speed, awesome weapons, the only drawback is when I fuck up a blitz. Magic power sucks 5. Gau: Bad Mother Fucker IF you know which Rages to get. Uncontrollable though. How many times have I needed to heal my party and this dumb motherfucker is trying to Blind the enemy for some reason. 4. Edgar: All of his tools kick ass. Autocrossbow in the early game is broken (because it's so OP). He's strong and can equip tons of stuff. Not the best speed in the world and shitty magic power. Sometimes his chainsaw will "Dispatch" an enemy that just comes right back to life. 3. Shadow: Second fastest character in the game, but he's much stronger than Locke. Give him Running shoes and a Hero Ring and let him Throw your whole inventory at Kefka's Army. He's a bad Motherfucker. 2. Celes: Only the 4th best Magic User BUT she's playable for the whole World of Ruin so you have loads of time to teach her spells and increase her stats. Decent fighter but I love Runic. Put her with fighters and Runic will neutralize most enemies' attacks in the late game while recovering her own MP to heal between battles and saving money on Tinctures. 1. Terra: This is a bad bitch. Good fighter. 2nd best Magic user. Good stats overall. Morph is the best ability in the game. It doubles her power practically making her into Wonder Woman. If there wasn't a time limit on Morph it would be unfair.

Umaro definitely saved me against the ice dragon. The ice dragon kept healing him when the rest of my party was down, so I went to make some tea while Umaro fought the dragon by himself.

Locke, Shadow, Edgar, Sabin and Terre were my faves. In jrpgs I tend to just use my favourites rather than who is best battle wise which doesnt really work out in the end lol.

“Now that I’m pushing 40.” Me: !!! I thought you were late 20s!

Tip: Mash (Sabin) Blitz abilities can be triggered VERY easily by tapping the inputs instead of doing the "fighting games" motions, by substituting the diagonals with any of the 4 directions: aura cannon can be triggered by pressing down down left instead of half circle. rising phoenix as left left down down right right and so forth. Never missed a blitz command any more.

Shout out to gamers in their late 30s still playing the classics!

it's interesting how your list is pretty different from my list. I think it really speaks to how viable (most of) the characters are, and how your own approach really matters in who is useful. If anything it makes me love FF6 even more.

7:32 Clearly you were never caught off guard by the ice dragon when trying to get Mog, accidentally had Celes with the ice shield, and since the dragon wiped out all other party members and reviving would mean wasting a turn and getting Celes killed, singlehandedly had Celes take out the Dragon while using Runic to counter the more powerful abilities that couldn’t be absorbed, like the “You Best Be Frozen” one.

Whenever I hear Strago, I remember Rabtoons FFVI in a nutshell: Strago: There! He used Bad Breath on me! Now, I can use it Edgar: Come on Strago, no need for excuses, just brush your teeth once in a while. Strago: Screw you whippersnapper!!!!

Fun fact: if you give Gau the Retainer monster rage he uses Shock. The signature skill of Gen Leo.

Locke is still the GOAT. Best physical attacker. Genji Glove, Master's Scroll, Ultima Blade, and Valiant Knife. That combo kills everything in the game. Everything.

Here's a tip. Keep track of the characters' to level exp. Just before they level, equip them with the esper that will raise the desired stats upon leveling.

Cyan's Bushido is heavily buffed in the current steam/ios versions though, since it charges in the background and let's you select other actions while you wait for him to get active. If you like Cyan, be sure to get that version before it falls off steam at the end of the month!

Yes, I agree. People overlook Gau for being uncontrollable, but he can be very powerful with abilities that cost him nothing to use. I especially like Straycat's Cat Scratch ability. When it goes off on a boss, it is a boss killer. It is so good.

Setzer's normal abilities do kind of suck though once you get those Fixed Dice, hoo boy that is a fun mix when you give him the relic that lets him attack four times.

My favorite character from VI is and always will be Locke

I disagree with Edgar being 1, he gets outclassed once you start learning magic, I also think Terra should be higher than Celes.

I played this game on Christmas too when I was a tween. Great game, I love your videos, keep up the great content

I use Celes, Terra, Edgar, Locke, Sabin most but just throwing it out there, I love Umaro!!! Poor guy has too many haters.

i played this all the way through for the first time ever this year and it was so incredibly good! I didn't expect it to live up to the hype, BUT IT DID

The correct answer is actually General Leo. E for effort, though!

I used Umaro in my party pretty much everytime once I got him. Loved him haha. I didn't find him any bad in my casual run. I used Gau, Strago or Relm much less for example. In a casual run, you can't expect everyone to go out of their way to get all these monster abilities, as good as they might be. Umaro's brute force and elemental resistances were good enough for me.

As a person who named their dog Celes, I think I can tell you who my #1 is 😜😜

I think you do a really great job pointing out flaws and strengths of characters. I have no disagreements with your analysis. But one criticism I have is that you say it's a vanilla run but your placements suggest otherwise. For instance, you say Gau is #3. I think Gau is a really great, high tier character, but until a player learns and understands how Rage works and which Rages are good and when, Gau is easily considered unwieldy to newer players. Contrast that with Setzer's slots which require considerably less time investment to figure out how to rig, and his #13 slot looks weird. Again, nothing you say about the characters is wrong, I just would consider Setzer much easier for a first time player to learn and understand, and he's far quicker to master, over a character who's a semi-berserker that may require massive time investment and experimentation to learn to use and still requires considerable backup for things like healing unless you already have ample knowledge of the game. A few opinions: -Relm is one of the weakest characters and I'd only consider Umaro and Cyan weaker than her, and that's only because she has a massively high natural magic stat in a game that favors magic, and the fact she gets access to equipment like Snow Muffler. -Gogo doesn't get stat boosts, leaving him to be one of the worst characters if you've been using stat bonuses throughout the game. Gogo does 1/3rd to 1/2 of the rest of the party's damage by the time you're in Kefka's tower, and even less if you max characters out. The mime falls behind way too fast and has an awkward equipment selection so I'd rate him lower than Setzer and Strago for sure. Really great video, I love all your JRPG knowledge.

Funny enough, David - this game taught me how to play fighting games. Once I figured out how to do Sabin's moves...it's like I suddenly understood everything.

Omg. Your rant during Sabin about “I don’t play fighting games, I don’t really play Mario anymore, I don’t play 3D Zelda games because I’m a crotchety old bitch using 40” That’s literally me too 😂😂😂 I mess up those blitzes and they stress me tf out!!

Immediately expected Umaro. I always get him, but never use him in battle, ever

Im doing a new playthrough. And I was wondering what stats I should raise to get the most out of Gau's Rage moves. Should I focus on his magic stat growth since he can't use weapons of his own? Or are his best rage moves based on his physical attack stat?

👌 lookin forward to the next list!

Locke was always my main character, and my other favorites were Sabin, Edgar, and Terra. Barely used anyone else.

What makes me feel that Terra is the main character is the following reasons: She is the one riding the magitek armor in the game's logo, also was the first character introduced. If you beat the game without getting her she will transform to her esper form and fly to Kefka's tower to be part of the ending sequence; no other character does that. She is one of two characters to naturally learn magic, which was stated to be the key to winning the war against the Empire. Lastly, if I'm not mistaken, being half human half supernatural or magical being is usually if not always a trait reserved for the main character (I don't read enough books to know if that's true). I do like that the developers gave many of the other characters a major part in the story instead of letting Terra hog all the spotlight.

Celes's Runic isn't as bad as you make it sound. Some spells are immune to Runic, so you can abuse the hell out of it. For example, use Runic, then have all other party members use Meteor. Meteor cannot be absorbed by Runic, so she won't absorb your magic. But it'll defend against enemy magic just fine. And obviously, Edgar/Sabin techs are immune to Runic too.

my brother has been playing this game recently, he doesn’t have access to internet so he asks me to look things up for him, does anyone know if finding ninja is any different after the world is destroyed? i have no clue what that means so if someone could maybe clarify for me so i can help my brother that would be great!

Umaro saved me on my first play through haha! One of the mini bosses in Kefka's tower killed everyone except Umaro, and he happened to have on armor that absorbed whatever element the boss was using and he slowly beat him by himself haha.

I came looking to defend Gau's utility because I figured he would be at the bottom. Pleasantly surprised.

I might have missed it, but is this primary based on Stats/Abilities/Skills/Equipment or does it also include personality I thought Setzer was decent with Fixed Dice and the thing that lets him do 4 attacks (Definitely better than Cyan) I find Locke to be a bit bland. I never understood how Relm works. As a kid, I never used Gau because I could never figure him out. Not to mention there's like 200+ Rages and you would have to know which ones were the good ones. How does Edgar beat out Sabin? Granted both characters are godly and can pretty much solo the game when built correctly but I think Sabin can hit the damage cap sooner than Edgar. I did have the same problem with the blitzes when growing up but now that I understand them, I find Sabin to be my primary attacker. So I would say my A-Team would be: Sabin, Edgar, (Terra / Celes). Unsure who the 4th would be. I do like Setzer. Strago and Gau could be useful. I could care less about Mr. Thou, Umaro, Gogo, Relm.

THIS is the content I subscribed for. Great!

I disagree with most of your list, but that's the beauty of this game, so many cooks in the kitchen, and I LOVE it! haha

This list is fascinating. Since it's from the perspective of the casual player's first time, I'm very surprised you had Gau so high. I didn't appreciate him until several playthroughs after my first. The brothers at the top makes full sense. Sabin is my favorite character in JRPG history. I get why Edgar is at the top though, the Tools mechanic is incredibly easy for the casual player to dominate the game. Fun list to watch though. FF6 content is always appreciated. :)

Hey! I may be old and washed up, but...what was the third thing you said?

Thanks for the upload. I'd love to see you rank the cast of p5!

First, I want to say; all my favorites are the bottom of this tier list!!!! With that said, I’m always interested in seeing why my favorites are someone else’s least favorites. Very interesting points and I respect everything that was said!

Feel like for me, I would rank Terra higher than Celes. Even listing to your reasons you might agree with this: with near identical equipment options and with both having the ability to naturally learn magic, there's very little difference between them in the two games. And when you consider the esper time available to both of them, Terra gets more in the world of balance than Celes and with a wider variety of espers since Celes leaves the party from the end of the Magitech Research Facility until the rise of the Floating Continent, additionally Terra is more or less required for most of the main missions between those two events giving her a lot of time to learn magic and get those bonuses. After that, Celes is mandatory up until you acquire the airship in the world of ruin, at which point if you so chose, you could immediately attempt to recruit Terra. So their time with the level up bonuses is comprable. Ultimately what separates the two of them is the usefulness of Runic compared to Morph. Runic is strong for the first little while between the boss fight against Kefka and the magic users in Zozo, and quickly loses usefulness as you continue on. Morph starts weak, but gets better as the game goes on and Terra is able to maintain the form longer. By the end of the game, Morph is still useful while Runic is not (and is limited by what weapon Celes has equipped. No runic if you give her Atma Weapon) making Terra the stronger overall character.

In my opinion Umaro has an hidden potentail that nobody expect, he is able to do fights alone and win. Doing so, makes him able to get all the XP for himself and you can had eggs to his equipement to even double the amount. Quickly, he will even be able to solo Tyranosaurus and grind to 99 in no time and you don't have to make any micro management in the menu to choose the right esper, in that way that simlicity is a strenght here . Once Umaro is 99 he will be really useful on the Mage tower and carry the other party members and make them able to grind all their skills points to the maximum. He is also really efficient in the coliseum i guess. So yeah, at the end Umaro will not be as useful as other characters but until that, he will help them a lot by doing what i said. Forecast a lot of sleepy bag for his grinding to heal him.

Awesome video as always! Love FF6 ever since first playing it years ago

Umaro is always in my main party once I get him, lol. And he crushes everything just fine. My final party is Terra, Locke, Umaro, and Celes.

Lockes the most overpowered character in the game with valiant knife and atma weapon

This list just made me feel like playing ff6. I loved it the first time I played it way back then. Nice touch putting each character’s tune every time you talked about them. Gau was a shock, but goes to show you that you can really get the most out of a character if you use them right.

Hey David good job with your videos. I wanted to ask you if there is any tip on how to find time to play many RPGs. I'm currently 33 so my game-playing time is quite short. However, I have at least 10 RPGs on my backlog that I want to complete. (maybe you could make this into a video? Who knows)

Why is cyan so slept on, even when I played it the first time i noticed when you put him at the top and got a surprise attack I had enough time to charge the first quadra attack before the rest of the squad was ready for round 2, plus the first time I took the gauntlet and gave it to him and spammed dispatch (the first 1 and you could cast) , which is just has effective from the back row. Then when I got older I learned to just level his attack to around 110 (no gear ) then shelf him till I could raise his speed and then giving him the quick spell ,quick spell negates the wait on the timer has it gives you the next two turns no matter what when cast ,and put him at the bottom and watch him decimate during the end game

Like this video and what I do here? Consider supporting me on Patreon! www.patreon.com/davidvinc [​0:38] - 14) - Umaro [​1:11] - 13) - Setzer [1:46] - 12) - Cyan [2:30] - 11) - Strago [3:16] - 10) - Locke [​4:04] - 9) - Shadow [4:49] - 8) - Mog [5:36] - 7) - Relm [6:21] - 6) - Terra [7:03] - 5) - Celes [7:54] - 4) - Gogo [8:39] - 3) - Gau [9:24] - 2) - Sabin [10:14] - 1) - Edgar

Great video! Thanks

Loved this ranking, thanks!!

Honestly, you can find strengths for all the characters in certain situations. I’ve beaten this game at least 50 times since it’s release. I started doing different character combinations just to see. They can be awesome, even Umaro if you know when/how to use them. I gotta say though, Sabin is by far the best character in the game. All his blitz moves are magic based so throw double earrings on him and it’s game over. He’s tank as is and string fighter so he’s great from the beginning to end. Love you videos keep it up David!

Ugh it always broke my heart as a kid that Setzer's character was this awesome free spirit, wealthy gambler but he was just so meh in battle. Weak weapons, unpredictable special move, and poor defense. It's really hard to choose when you get to a certain point in the roster but I think my #1 is definitely Celes. Rune stinks but it was cool to see a female character with some brute strength for a change, and proficient with magic. Plus when I was 9 playing this for the first time I would always name her after my 4th grade crush. Ahhhh nerdy childhood memories! 😂

I must admit, I am a little surprised! I'm new to your channel but I couldn't be happier to see that I am not the only one who ranks the Figaro brothers as the two best in the entire game. Edgar has long been my favourite character in FFVI and for good reason. Is there anything he can't do? I can remember having him learn magic and he was good at that too! I was thinking about replaying this game and well I think I'll do it now that I've seen this video. Cheers!

Fun list! This is a game I played a lot as a preteen/teen. Liked seeing Gau higher up on your list. I loved using the Behemoth rage due to access to Meteor. I would rank Terra, Locke, Celes higher due to just characterization and impact on the story. I couldn't do Sabin's blitzes with diagonal directions but learned a neat trick recently you can just input a nearby cardinal direction instead. I could usually get Setzer's 7-flush or Chocobop to work, but not other slots.

I was lucky enough to find Gogo on my first playthroughs since I voluntarily got eaten by the monster since I thought there was a dungeon like Jabu Jabu from Ocarina of Time since when eaten your party didn’t die, and I was surprised to be correct! Probably the best feeling in the game though was finding Gogo, since I was expecting just a dragon, the pan to his description plus naming was out of left field and he’s probably my favorite character in the game

Whoa whoa whoa, nothing outstanding about Locke? Whoa whoa whoa, a qualifier about, "This is a list for a first playthrough." but then considering characters that rely on meta knowledge over those who don't OTL Daaaaaavid! Ok, I'll give you my list. 14. Relm - Her personal skill is bugged and can ruin your game cart. No time for growths, but if it's a first playthrough you maybe don't mind grinding, depends on who you are as a person, so won't mention it much. Her good magic power doesn't make up for her other weaknesses. 13. Setzer - Yeah I don't like rigging his slots either, and on a first play you ain't gonna know about Fixed Dice. I edge him over Relm cause you get him sooner in both worlds, he's required to beat the game, and he has a good equipment draw. 12. Cyan - Swdtech is bad from a time perspective, his speed is low, magic is low, and ways you could make up for these can also be applied equally to other people. 11. Umaro - No growths, but a first playthrough might not even notice or optimize magic stat growths... or invest in ones that are bugged, like stamina. This instantly makes him better than Cyan, in every department except Magic, but you need someone to attack. Interestingly, I've never thought to use him in Cultist's Tower. Equip with a Gauntlet and Black Belt, and he will whoop ass. Oh and he naturally absorbs Ice and takes 0 from Fire elements iirc. It's been a long time though, maybe I remember wrong. 10. Gau - Great if you luck into learning one of his powerful rages, which isn't hard to do, even on a first playthrough. But the curiosity around his Rages will depend on you as a person, and honestly, I think most people tap out the first time he uses an element on something that absorbs said element, and then you either kill him or get soft locked into a reset. On the brightside he can learn magic and be controlled directly for that, and with his high speed and decent magic power, he can be a handy mage. 9. . Mog - His dances are so powerful in the WoB that you're likely to use him, and want him back immediately in WoR. Unfortunately his dances suffer in WoR, and on a first playthrough you're liable to miss gettting Water Rondo. His low strength makes Dragoonboots usage sort of meh for him. 8. Strago - because he comes with spells, and even without learning any of his other Blue Magic, Aqua Rake can hold you over till you learn magicite spells, which will hold you over until his personal quest with Hidon and Grand Trine. I wish Blue Magic didn't require such meta knowledge. I think its best implementation was in FFXI online, and that literally broke the entire MMO. 7. Terra - Her magic is natural. She is powerful. Doesn't get to go through a good portion of the WoB though. Her personal skill is ultimately useless, as if you focus up her stats, Morphing can't break the damage cap. Before then it's useful on bosses, but it has never made or broke whether I win or lose. 6. Celes - Edges out Terra by having more availability. Also Runic is better than Morph, since it's pretty much required for doing battle with Tunnel Armor and Kefka at Narshe if you haven't leveled up that much. Runic has other niche uses, and something A LOT of people seem to forget is that she absorbs the spells as MP, so it restores her MP for free, and while it still doesn't break the game, at least it is always useful if you're using it for its intended purpose. Does suck that she absorbs your own teams spells, though you could view that as a weird way to give her MP back from a weaker MP character... all this RUnic goodness assuming you don't just learn the mighty Osmose spell.... yeah OTL 5. Gogo - Jack of all trades, literally, master of none. I love being able to double up on abilities even if he's weaker. Leveling up will mostly fix that due to how damage is calculated, making leveling up the most significant gain you can achieve anyway. Having a second Blitz, Throw, Tools, and any spell that anyone else already learned is just 100% good shit. He only barely edges out the magical girls in my mind because their personal skills are meh. 4. Sabin - Blitzes are extremely powerful. However, even when you know how to input them, sometimes the controller takes an input the wrong way. My brother taught me how to use his Blitzes when I was about 12. Before then I just slapped Genji Glove on him, and gave him Tiger Fang/Dragon Claw... this actually turns into a better solution for bosses the more you grind his Vigor, but on a first playthrough you're unlikely to do that. Fire Dance rocks WoB, as does Aurabolt, and Pummel and Suplex are easy inputs that do well too, though they don't sweep the screen. 3. Edgar - Tools are OP in WoB. Even if you miss out on the Flash tool from Figaro after Narshe, the Bio Blaster and Auto Crossbow can make up for it. Drill is OP. Chainsaw is OK, if the Instant Death effect didn't try to trigger on bosses I'd love it even more... Easy to use, so they never screw up, unless you select the wrong tool, which you can also just discard or sell. Not in the top cause his Tools power starts to lag behind in WoR, but his good equipment draw, and high screen time in both worlds makes up for it. 2. Locke - He''s not number 1, because honestly for most of the game, his only real battle option is fight, and his magical power is sort subpar, and he won't have the equipment he needs to claim this spot for a good long time. You want to focus on his Vigor anyway, but that might not be apparent to a first timer. Once you get him back in WoR he instantly becomes an insane physical powerhouse though. Better than anyone else in the game, and this is due to his equipment draw. Being able to wield both the Atma Weapon and the Valiant Knife means that he can Genji Glove + Offering(Master Scroll in later translations), and do 8 hits that ignore defence. Each weapon also offsets the downside of the other, and once he's in the mid 40s/50s if you get that high, he can kill most of the final bosses in a single use of X Fight. Even before then in the high 20s/30s, the damage from his X Fight puts every other damage option to shame. 1. Shadow - There's a reason his use is limited in the WoB. Throw is OP. He's around for the part of Sabin's scenario that matters. He's optional, sure, but why wouldn't you opt in to using him? Interceptor counters are unique to him, again stupidly powerful. He is also fast with decent magic power. The second time he's available may not appeal or may not be apparent to a first timer, sadly, but that is a time he could use elemental skeans which don't really shine right then, but imagine if you could take him to the Magitek Research Facility with Bolt Skeans though. Best of all Throw scales with Level and Stats far better than Edgar's Tools. Even at relatively low levels, in the WoR he can throw elemental swords, and while that relies to some extent on meta knowledge, even just using Ninja Stars it's quite easy to surpass 4~5k damage. At the highest level, Genji glove will supplant throw on Single Targets, but not for multi targeting, just like Edgar's Tools. The only real downside is it consumes items, but items are there to be consumed. He's available "early" in the WoR, assuming you waited for him. God, you've better have waited for him. Lastly, you do come by the occasional Tack Star. These will do close to max damage even at stupidly low levels. If you could use Shadow for the whole game, you would, and that's why his availability is low and optional.

Great video I was gunning to call you out with anything I may have felt was wrong but in retrospect I believe your rankings are pretty accurate good job

For the new Pixel remaster.. Cyan you can now SELECT which of his Swordtech and it waits but you can do other things with party members. It puts the timer in the background not the foreground. Making him MUCH more viable! *since he is your favorite as a child, I figured i would let you know ;) Its worth the play through again. Lots of quality of life changes in it.*

I was a complete FF6 fanatic when I was younger so have my two cents. Except for Umaro, most FF6 characters have their uses and everyone can get ridiculously overpowered thanks to Magacite lvl bonuses. But characters like Cyan can be quite powerful early on because they have defense piercing skills and also some skills like his lvl 4 swordtech can't miss and you can backrow them to make them tankier. If you don't grind and abuse game mechanics, Cyan, Setzer, Locke can be very useful. Similarly, Gau is absolutely nuts early on because you can get him lvl 3 spell rages way earlier than you should have access to them. Gogo's also actually quite terrible! When you get him, he's pretty weak and like you mentioned, if you look at his stats carefully, you'll notice they're awful. He's actually one of the "weakest" non grind characters in a party. Similarly, Terra is much stronger than Celes because her Magic Power is higher and she has Esper form. Celes is more defensive in her stats which isn't that important because spells like Shell exist. I say this even though Celes is my favorite character :(.

Edgar was always my favourite character right from he joined my party at the start of the game he is just awesome

Thanks for the upload! Without having seen most of the video, I can't say I like Umaro or Gogo. Loved everyone's backstories. I liked Locke, Shadow, Terra, and Edgar.

David, what you said about Sabin bring number two hit me man. I'm going on 40 myself but man, I just have so many find memories of not only this game but this time in gaming. Love your videos by the way. You're awesome.

For Gau, the rage "IO" is one of the best. It has flare star.

This is my all-time favorite videogame. I've played through it countless times, experimenting with different characters, glitching the game by sketching Gau when he returns from the Veldt, Soloing parts of the game with various characters etc. I disagree with some of the placements and agree with others. Locke should be higher due to his ability to steal unique super powerful items, Shadow is a beast due to Interceptor blocking attacks and countering with insane early game damage as well as his ability to hit elemental weaknesses early in the game before magic is readily available. Later in the game he is still really good as his thrown shurikens and such easily top out at 9999 damage. Terra is better than Celes IMO as the only significant difference between them is their special ability and Celes' s Runic sucks while the increased damage from Terra's Esper transformation is one of the best and remains useful through the end of the game. Gau is a turd and belongs near the bottom. The Veldt is annoying and incredibly time consuming. Any character in this game can become super powerful if you grind with them strategically using Esper level up bonuses, so spending a lot of time grinding on the Veldt to make Gau useful could be better spent on a superior character. The Figaro brothers are tops and I don't think anyone is arguing that.

Now you got me curious. If you were to include Leo and Banon in that video how would you have ranked these temporary fighters? Knowing they are last members of your playable cast.

If I remember correctly, gogo couldn't equip magicite, and thus don't benefit from the bonuses they give?

you owning cyan by calling him mr. thou makes me love you

Thanks for giving Gau the love. He's my favorite character in the game, and one of my favorites in the entire series!

Great video, David. I'm glad to see gau getting some love. If you put a bit of work in and get the right relics, he can be downright broken. As powerful as Sabin is, his defence and equipment draw leaves much to be desired. Terra and Celes are at the top of my personal list.

Great video!

Sabin is the strongest during the World of Ruin and Shadow is a close second, the two strongest characters during the endgame. Edgar is the strongest during the World of Balance no doubt about it.

I mean, Locke can literally be a one man army and do more damage than anyone in the game, but sure...number 10...

Have you tried the brave new world mod for FFVI? Would love to see a character rating based on that as well.

There are so many interesting characters in this game. If we are talking first playthrough I would have put Relm much lower for one reason. In the SNES version (I'm assuming you mean original playthrough on SNES) Relm has horrific sketching glitches that can lock the game up. If we are talking about corrected versions your placement of her I believe is perfect. I did think Cyan was better but not greatly. The versatility in this game is just majestic, so many amazing ways to play this game. I absolutely loved Shadow and wish we had seen him in other FF games. Fantastic idea David, thank you.

Yeah the Figaro Brothers are extremely OP, especially Edgar. It's almost unfair. One slices and dices with a chainsaw and the other can suplexes trains. Love this game.

When I was a kid I never used Setzer because his portrait makes him look like a zombie. Years later, I like him more. He is worth leveling to make fixed dice better at the end of the game. By leveling him, you get a character with a good regular attack, as well as a lot of magic.

I love Umaro. Blizzard orb and leaving a snow suit and hatchet unequipped makes him absorb ice and take virtually no fire damage, also a hatchet is in his hand during his animation. Level him up in the dino forest and pick a second relic. He's a beast and has high magic defense.

love your Channel and videos mate!!! brings back good memories as a jrpg gaymer kid :) i do love sabin though... the blitz make it seems like you are performing the actions. lol!

Huh, you're pushing forty; I really couldn't tell looking at you, I mean you did mention your age occasionally, but who knew your near your forty's. Guess it goes to show how well you have taken care of yourself, inside and out. oh, well keep at it, I guess.

Man,Cyan is so underrated

Currently playing FFVI, only have Fanatics and Kefka's Tower left and I have a mental exhaustion from choosing which characters should I bring 🤐 but at the end I bet I'll just go with those I like the most lol

same fear of messing up a blitz with Sabin, but I think I equipped Genji Glove and Blackbelt. yeah? haha when i realized Gau and Gogo where in the top i screamed, lol. Great video and I'm with ya. Umaro was a character to fill in your team at the end. I'm impressed to learn that Mog could do more. I feel like my ending team was Edgar, Saban, Locke and Celes. Good to know that Relm is more powerful. I'm a causal player and just saw it's now on steam

I'm gonna talk about each character as they appear in the game. Terra: easily the strongest character in the game. Has access to amazing equipment with the minerva bustier and the lightbringer, it's solid on both magic and strength, and her morph is a boss destroyer. She starts off a bit slow, but not terribly so, as she's the only character in the game with access to magic that early on, and she's avaible through pretty much the whole game. Excellent character. Locke: He's actually a solid charcter in the world of ruin. In the world of balance he's avarage at best. His weapons are far from impressive and steal is pretty useless in this game. But in the world of ruin with access to the lightbringer and the valiant knife, as well as the master scroll, he can do some solid damage. He's just boring. Edgar: He's the opposite to locke. In the world of ballance, he's a god. Unrivaled. His tools are strong, free, and require no command. But later on, their base power is just not enough. Thankfully he has access to the dragoon set up or an enhancer and spells. Sadly, he is outclassed by pretty much everyone else. Sabin: he is pretty good. His blitzes are very powerful through the entire game. But he has some problems. For starters, he has amazing strenght and poor magic. However, most of his blitzes are magic based, so he'll require some investment with espers. Also, his equipment is far from optimal, especially since most of his weapons are strenght based. But still, almost nothing comes even close to a bum rush, if you can nail the commands, that is. Shadow: shadow is pretty solid. Has good evasion and access to a reliable source of damage with his throw ability, bot physical and magical. Plus his unique counters with interceptor are very good, if unreliable. Sadly, shadow is unavailable through most of the world of balance, and could even die before the world of ruin if you don't know what you're doing. That really hinders his position on my list. Cyan: no reason beating around the bush, cyan sucks. His bushido commabds are very good, but take forever to charge. He will probably be relagated to just using dispatch forever. And no, wind god Cyan is not a viable alternative. Windslash is a magical based ability and cyan's magic is dogshit. Don't even try it past the world of balance. Gau: easily the best character in the game, just like terra. Even if you don't diversify with his rages, just using stray cat, or even any random rage he comes with, it's already pretty good. Celes: she's Terra light. She has the exact same equipment pool, similar stats, with slightly better strenght but slightly worse magic, not enough to be noticeable, but still, and pretty good availability, being mandatory in some of the largest portions of the game. However, Runic is so inferior to morph that Celes has to come just below Terra. Setzer: he is pretty mediocre through most of the game. He's a lot like Locke, actually, with decent strenght, poor weapons and a kinda useless command. Slots is better than steal, but setzer's weapons are worse than Locke's, so it evens out. However, in the world of ruin, with access to the loaded dice and the master scroll, he becomes pretty powerful. And since loaded dice are not affected by strength, you can easily lever setzer in magic and give him some utility spells while missing none of his damage. He's decent, overall. Strago: he's...ok? Blue magic is always pretty good in final fantasy, and his methods to learn them are a lot easier than in final fantasy 5, so that's nice. I don't have a whole lot of bad stuff to say about him, only that his magic stat is underwhelming compared to the other mages in the game. Relm: this little girl is surprisingly good. Sketch is...sketchy *badumtsss*, so you'll rarely use it,but she has the best magic stat in the game, plus access to some of the best magic-increasing equipment, like the magus rod and the cat ear hood. She can be eaily as powerful as Terra and Celes. Still, she's no match to morph, and even runic can be more useful than sketch. But control has it's uses if you're willing to sacrifice a relic slot. Mog: Mog is sadly not very good. His dances are like a more unreliable Gau rage, that you can't actually choose what dance you want without a chance of failure and it has 4 potential moves instead of 2. He can jump if you want to, but he's better as a mage than a fighter. So it's kinda hard to know what to do with him. Umaro: no espers, poor equipment and not very good abilities. At best ge's a worse gau. A MUCH worse Gau. Bench him. Gogo: he's actually pretty good. He has no access to espers, which makes his stats pretty bad, but the only thing better than a bum rush or a ultima, is two bum rushes or ultimas. Imp: not really a character, but the Imp equipment can be a nice solution for weaker characters like Cyan or Mog, along with dragon boots and horn. Plus it makes so those charcters don't compete for better equipments, like force armors and thunder shields.

Even though Setzer is my favorite character, and the one character that never left my party in any play through, I figured he'd be lower on the list. But I've always loved the Gambler archetype, as my favorite in FF7 is Cait Sith.

I used to have trouble with Sabin's blitzes as well until I learned the secret that Square kept hidden for so long, that is you don't have to roll the D-pad to do them. For example, Fire Dance - left, left, down, down, right. Aura bolt - down, down, left. Bum rush - left, left, up, up, right, right, down, down, left. The game doesn't even seem to care if you're a little slow, it is pretty forgiving. That made Sabin much better in my book.

Been playing this game since it came out and it's easily one of my favorite games of all time. Not a fan of Gau, but I've always been a huge fan of Edgar, so I agree with that choice. Edgar and Sabin are pretty much always in my party when available. I understand the limitations of Terra and Celes, but they're much higher on my list because of story reasons, and the fact that they're quite powerful early game before you get espers. I typically focus on leveling their magic stat so they can wreck stuff at higher level.

Very good list, I can’t really disagree with most of the entries. My only big disagreement is on the usefulness of Runic. I never used it as a kid, but when I play through now, I find myself using it a lot to neutralize certain bosses, especially in the WoB. I was doing a natural magic only game in my last playthrough so it’s probably more useful that way, but it definitely has some utility early on when no one else has magic yet.

As someone who plays Street Fighter, Sabin was a joy to use. Bum rush is an SPD (spinning pile driver) motion. It was easy for me to use, and boy did I ever!

I have this game but havent played it yet. I think this is the one with 2 player capability right!? Anyway Setzers slots makes me think of how broken Selphie was in ff8 and coincidentally she was my favorite in that game. You could open the playstation and nothing would move but her slots and if she is the only one alive she could use "the end" which is the iconic flower field and they would disintegrate! Lol. I typed too much!

Everyone complains about Cyan's original SwordTech. It had issues, but FF3SNES also gave you the option of pressing the X button to skip between party members, so you could always queue Cyan as last to act. He can charge his meter while everyone else is waiting to attack or is waiting for their ATB to fill. Because you said this list is for first playthroughs, Gau should be ranked lower. Either you get a strategy guide or you spend tons of hours on the Veldt getting rages and testing them. Very few players do the latter, and the former is something a lot of players avoid doing on their first playthrough.

I'm so happy with that top 2. Every strategy guide I use basically says I'm playing the game wrong is I use the brothers in WOR. I just love that they empty most screens with 1 or 2 moves without using magic. Just such a lifesaver for the games pace!!

I must be the only person in the world who thinks Umaro wasn't a bad character. I remember having him in my main party my first time through, and never really found the lack of control to be any liability for me. He was raw, untamed power, and I guess that's all I ever really needed out of him. If nothing else, he was always very handy for the coliseum. :P

I always like Sabin because I'm a sucker for muscle dudes, but seriously, after I get used to control his skill inputs he is pretty easy to use. Edgar, Locke, and the two ladies were also my favorites. I didn't use Mog as often because he kept stumbling on me with his dances.