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| Even Jude can be epic if he wants to be. |
Name: Jude
Traits: Great melee combo potential, Tanky, Healing, Probably the safest link partner
Rating: 9/10
As much as I hate Jude (I picked Milla fyi), he's a mighty solid fighter. You want to go up close and clobber someone's face? No one in this game suits you better than Jude, honestly. While Alvin and Leia are good up close, Jude just has too much to pass up. His combos are easily chained, with many similarities to old time "Tales Of" fist fighters, he can really bring the pain. What's more, he brings SO much else to the table. He can take punches to the face very well, he can heal, and linking with him probably means that you'll never f**king die. For such an indecisive main character, he more than carries his own weight in a fight.
With some of the best health in the game, Jude probably works best as a front line fighter. Being melee just works even better for him in his favor. And if things ever become sticky, just have him sit back and heal up the team...he's a medical student after all. Just equip him with a ton of AC and watch him go to town on even the tankiest of enemies. And let's not talk about linking...his link specialty is probably the sickest thing ever. If you ever go down with Jude as your link partner, he just comes and helps you up, without, f**king, fail. He's the ultimate guardian, with him around, you can just focus on all out offense...with him being part of it as well.
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| F**k it, she's the hottest "Tales Of" female, EVER. |
Name: Milla
Traits: Unique Mystic Artes, Four Great Spirits are freaking OP, Can fight melee or from afar
Rating: 7/10
Milla may be the sexiest thing the game has to offer, but in combat, she's pretty much average. In fact, I might even consider her to be the weakest character in the game WITHOUT the Four Great Spirits. With them however...she's a freaking monster, especially when she's solo. So much damage and area coverage...it makes all of her other abilities look silly. However, that doesn't mean she sucks. She might be somewhat underwhelming for the early portions of the game, but she does have redeeming qualities.
First off, Milla can fight well both from afar and up close. Like most character, she has access to mystic artes, but in her case, they can be "quick cast" or cast regularly like how Elize and Rowen do. Regular versions of her spells will just come out as per usual, while her "quick cast" versions have no cast time at all and appear instantly..though they are severely downgraded and most are only good for melee comboing. She is one of the few characters that learn both melee attacks and mystic artes, making her one of the more diversed characters. Partnering with her lets her bind your opponents...its alright, but not the most impressive ability around.
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| The traitor of the traitor's nation's traitor traitor. |
Name: Alvin
Traits: Very high damage up close, Tanky, Solid link partner for destroying solo enemies
Rating: 7/10
Alvin probably seems really impressive at first sight. While he is considerably one of the stronger characters in a straight up fight, there really isn't much else to him other than being a brute that soaks up damage up close and dishes out some as well. However, this damage that he does in melee range is probably the best that the cast in this game can offer, and if you ever need someone to crush face, Alvin is your man. Plus, he has some defensive options with the incredibly useful Guardian Field/Grove.
Alvin is a beast when chaining artes for combos. Being tanky helps of course, but he'll need some help going in. Having mystic artes to open up guards for him is perfect, and he could use some healing when he's being focused down. Of course, with Alvin as your link partner instead, everything changes. Having someone like Leia or Jude linked with Alvin is best, because his special link ability allows him to destroy guards, something that is INCREDIBLY useful versus some of the more persistent enemies/bosses. Plus, all in all, he's just a very badass man.
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| She's like a tiny angel. |
Name: Elize
Traits: Powerful Mystic Artes, Lots of AOE and lockdown, Great support/Healer
Rating: 8/10
The typical "Tales Of" mage type character, Elize is pretty freaking useful and you're probably going to need her for most of the game. She brings heals, lots of support abilities with Teepo, and she is a complete monster if she manages to pull off one of those long channel mystic artes. However, Elize is low on defenses and HP, if she gets focused she'll be down in a heartbeat. Protect her like you mean it and she'll bring you victory. Of course, worst comes to worst, you can just manually control her to spam revives and heals to your team that's getting decimated.
Being the typical mage in a "Tales Of" game, you know what to expect out of her. She's like Cheria in "Graces" or Tear in "Abyss", you can't live without her...sort of. She's still a valuable asset, but just not AS useful when you have the healer squad all in your team (Jude, Alvin, Leia). Linking with her is awesome, as her Teepo support restores some TP every now and then whenever she deals damage. And if you don't need her doing that, she has LOTS of powerful mystic artes that cover almost the entire screen while locking down enemies.
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| The old man huh. |
Name: Rowen
Traits: Powerful Mystic Artes, Physical Artes help keep enemies away
Rating: 6/10
Rowen is really powerful, like, REALLY powerful with his mystic artes, but he really needs help. For one, his health and defenses are pathetic. His cast times are also really horrible until you really invest in reducing those. If enemies decide to just rush him down he can die in an instant. You'll either need someone else to lock him down so Rowen gets to pull his spells off, or constant keep him healed up....which is really not too worth. Unless you run double casters with Elize, Rowen really doesn't do much.
To really be potent with Rowen, you MUST manually control him. He has artes that defends himself as he casts his more powerful ones, and up close, he's meant to keep enemies away. However if he does pull off a spell, it can be as devastating if not more so than those that Elize can cast (by god his late game artes are monstrous). But there is one thing though...his linking specialty. Just pair him up with Elize and those 2 can literally break through enemies waves instantly...as long as you have the likes of Milla/Jude or Leia/Alvin doing all the heavy lifting up front.
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| HERE COMES LEIA! |
Name: Leia
Traits: Healing, Strong Physical Artes and combo potential, HER LINK SKILL SAVES LIVES
Rating: 8/10
Leia probably made the game easier for a lot players out there, I'm not kidding. While her utility and overall kit is somewhat already really good on its own, there's really something that only she can do....and that something is SO good. Before we go into that though, let's go through Leia's role in "Xillia"'s party. ...And that's nothing. She's somewhat like "Sophie" in "Graces", she excels in both melee combat and provides some good support/healing with her artes. She buffs you with things like Sharpness or Barrier, then heals/revives you as well...all while going up to opponents and smashing them in the skull with her long pole.
Leia combo potential is actually really decent, and he damage is a little bit on the higher side as well. All she's missing is some form of offensive mystic arte and some high defenses/HP, but I guess that's a bit too much to ask for (ain't it, Sophie?). However though, when you link with Leia, she brings along the all-so-important steal ability. While steal might sound really trivial, its a godsend when you fight against bosses with f**king elixirs or any form of healing item. Leia will REALLY shine here and make these guys regret trying to cheat during a f**king boss fight (f**k you Muse and your unlimited Heavy Treat spams).
Since you can switch party members now mid combat, there's really no need for any party preferences now are there? I just use everyone. However, I do like to manually use these guys, with the following link partners:
Me: Milla Link: Jude
Me: Elize Link: Rowen
Me: Leia Link: Alvin
Peace.
