Rank Characters based on In Game Use: Reboot!

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Hoo, this is a simple one.

Rudy Roughknight: 7/10. In WA1, clearly the worst of the three characters. Competitive early on, but as the game goes on he just can't really seem to keep up with the other two. He's hard to kill, yeah, but Cecilia's good enough at healing that it doesn't matter as much.

Jack Van Burace: 9/10. Basically better than Rudy in all the most important ways, being faster and stronger. If you spend enough time grinding secret signs, he can even have ridiculous combat endurance, while throwing 1 MP trump cards and cosmic novas around. And he's got Accelerator and Double Command for the awesome.

Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 10/10. Cecilia is 90% of both your healing ability and your magical firepower. She's the gross majority of your utility. The things she's not good at, you get not one but TWO characters who are good at it. And hey, Hi-Combine is awesome even if double magic is like double command but not as good.

[Random Consonant]

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: Failed to impress, for the most part.  His durability doesn't matter a whole lot and I never really got much mileage out of his ARMs.  4.5/10
Jack Van Burace: Eh, sure.  Speed was important at times and he had it.  Being able to steal Magic Carrots is also a plus.  6.5/10
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: Does pretty much everything, but not quite completely dominating.  9.5/10

Disgaea ("Plot" PCs):

Warning: Lazy.

Laharl: 5/10.  Disgaea human.
Etna: 5/10.  Disgaea human.
Prinny: 0/10.  Disgaea monster.
Flonne: 5/10.  Disgaea human.
Hoggmeiser: 0/10.  Disgaea monster.
Maderas: 0/10.  Disgaea monster.
Gordon: 5/10.  Disgaea human.
Jennifer: 5/10.  Disgaea human.
Thursday: 0/10.  Disgaea monster.
Kurtis: 0/10.  Disgaea monster.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Rudy Roughknight: 7/10. He -is- slow, but he's your most reliable source of offense, and the speed isn't really all that relevant in WA1o. Having multiple, separate resource sources has its perks too unless you're completely anal-retentive about spending resources against randoms.
Jack Van Burace: 4/10. The whatever boy. Starts off solid, but tapers off something fierce in the early midgame and never really picks up enough. In practice, his resources feel more limited than Rudy's, his damage rams into defenses way too much and his utility isn't very good. Game-best speed also isn't as good as it could be, since he isn't very good against randoms either. I guess he makes a reasonable item boy, but how often do you need that in WA1o, especially with Cecilia+Mystic? And how much credit can I give someone whose best use for most of the game is only being an item boy? I'm not tossing 7-8/10s to half the SH1 cast, for instance.
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 9/10. Mmmm. Not quite 10 material, the stat spread is kinda problematic. On the other hand, she does -everything-. She's your healer, your buffer, your source of offense for randoms after some point, your cornerstone for bosses, your... basically everything. Having one of the best skillsets ever is just too much, and she has the resources to spam them off.

[Cmdr_King]

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: 7/10.  Solid.
Jack Van Burace:  5/10.  Pulls his weight for the most part but not much more.
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 8/10.  Good all around, but I hesitate to say she breaks the game outright.

Disgaea ("Plot" PCs): Disclaimer- as per standard procedure, I used very few generics in Disgaea 1.  I think I might've had a mage and that's about it.
Laharl: 7/10.  Sword techs are good, as are his innates, so he built up a quick level lead which, in Disgaea, snowballs.  Still, I certainly COULD have used Etna in this capacity. 
Etna: 6/10.  Alright, but Prinny Raid < Overlord's Wrath.
Prinny: Abstain.  I've never really used Prinnies.
Flonne: 6/10.  Mages rock, and Flonne was also my healer (although I used a lot of items too).  Loses two points for skipping out on the final battle though.  Arghlefuck.
Hoggmeiser: Abstain.
Maderas: Abstain.
Gordon: 6/10.  Solid enough.  Sucks that he's kinda late but so it goes.
Jennifer: 4/10.  Late, like Gordon.  Unlike Gordon, she doesn't have Axes to make up for the low weapon levels.
Thursday: 7/10.  Monsters don't suffer from lateness, so... yeah.  Great stats, the innate techs are good, really a boost to the party.
Kurtis: 5/10.  Filler, but could be worse.

[Bobbin Cranbud]

Wild ARMs: A general note on games where you can't change your party.  I find it much harder to judge, say, Rudy being suboptimal when there's no one to replace him with!  Would I rather have someone else?  Probably.  But I'd rather have Rudy than nobody at all.  For Wild ARMs specifically, there's also the tools issue; Rudy is useful because he has tools you can't proceed without, so... Eh.  Also, it's been over a decade since I played the original Wild ARMs.

Rudy Roughknight: 6.5/10 I don't believe in going lower than a 5/10 on a character who can't be replaced anyway, unless they're some kind of massive black hole of suck.  Rudy isn't, as I recall, and his ARMs can do decent damage to bosses.  5.5, upped by a point because not only do you need his tools, speed skates let you avoid randoms.
Jack Van Burace: 7/10 Best damage dealer and good all around.  Tough and useful.  But again, it's hard to judge because there's no choice involved here.
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 7.5/10 The most customizable by far, almost the sole source of healing and magic damage, and generally not frail enough to fail it up like some mages.  However, while she's the utility queen, I don't remember her really dominating (her damage tends to be quite low, for one).

Disgaea ("Plot" PCs): Skipping because none of the cast felt like they rose or fell from a 5, frankly, and I have no benchmark of where a given character was "supposed" to be in terms of levels.

[Cotigo]

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: 5/10 - What everyone else said.
Jack Van Burace: Really don't need to elaborate. 7/10
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: Why are you reading this.  10/10

Disgaea ("Plot" PCs):

Wait there was a noticeable difference aside from weapon growths which only really matter at high levels?

[Excal]

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight:  6.5  -  Dunno, I got a lot of use out of him thanks to the fact that he did have separate ammo piles so he had stuff for bosses and stuff for randoms.  Not to mention his toughness rarely mattered, but when it did it was a life-saver.

Jack Van Burace:  5  -  Glorified item boy with some worthwhile skills.  Started decently strong, and picked up some decent tricks late, but never could pull the depth of resource issue Rudy could.

Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde:  9.5  -  Yeah, has the dies too easily issue, otherwise becomes the late randomslayer before switching to the person what keeps you alive and buffs you to absurdity against bosses.


Disgaea ("Plot" PCs):
Laharl:  6.5
Etna:  5.5
Prinny:  0.5  - No real techs, horrific stats, and can't even throw.  Just a warm body.
Flonne:  4.5 - Unlike everyone else, you need to get her a mage minion if you want her to be worth anything.
Hoggmeiser:  4.5 - Suffers from being a monster, but that one move where he swaps places with a target enemy is awesome for dealing with all those invincible geopanel fights that are generally BS otherwise.
Maderas:  2 - Can't remember him, thus probably sucked.
Gordon:  4  -  Came in too late to really be useful.
Jennifer:  3  -  Like Gordon, but with worse techs and weapon.
Thursday:  6.5  -  Docked half a point for late entry, otherwise status immunity + only character with noteworthy defense!
Kurtis:  1.5 - So, monster + late arrival + kinda lame stats.  Yeaaaaah.
Character Levels: 10/10  -  Without this, the game is unbeatable.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: 6 - Damage is important. A proto-Raquel?
Jack Van Burace: 7 - Speed is more important. He can actually do things with his turns, especially with proper equips.
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 10 - Utility is god. I would rather have 3 Cecilias than the whole WA1 team, despite the uses that Jack and Rudy bring.



Disgaea ("Plot" PCs):
Laharl: 7.5 - Overall, a very useful character. Available from the beginning with a good weapon proficiency. Being a humanoid-type Disgaea character means he can lift/throw, which makes up 90% of the strategy in Disgaea. The levelling snowball effect is prominent with him, in addition to him being a prime candidate for being the master of all your generic PCs. Would be an 8, but Etna exists and the two are practically interchangeable.

Etna: 7 - Suitable Laharl replacement. Like Laharl, you can focus on her from the beginning of the game to start the levelling snowball, which stomps Disgaea's difficulty into the ground. She's got slightly better stats for magic if you like your lead to double as a healer/buffer, but Laharl's starting weapon, Swords, has the better overall utility. Lifting/Throwing is, again, an important factor, and Etna tends to counter more often and her apprenticed generics combo with her more frequently. Balanced out by how awful her techs are compared to Laharl's, and her relatively bad accuracy.

Prinny: 5.5 - Prinnies deal damage based on maxHP when you throw them. Prinny + stacking HP boosters + splash damage = breaking the maps in half. Only useful for being thrown, but they get exponentially better for throwing at the higher classes, not to mention having better transmigration options than the plot PCs. Still, a monster, so it's hard rating it much more than average.

Flonne: 6.5 - Magic is great. Healing is great. Some limited availability issues + needing generic apprentices to get the cost-effective magic puts her lower than Etna. Still, a human-type with some good utility early.

Hoggmeiser: 2 - Has some very situational uses. Monster-type, though. Sucks.

Maderas: 1 - Better statistically than Hoggmeiser, but you'd be using a non-Prinny monster, and he doesn't even have the situational uses.

Gordon: 7.5 - Great utility character. Can be awesome for getting the combo count up with gunner's range. Can be a physical powerhouse with axes. Has the best-range throw in the game and that solves a lot of problems, especially in the Item World. If he wasn't a late-joiner, he'd outshine Laharl easily.

Jennifer: 6 - Human-type, usable. Has good accuracy and counter rate, but that's basically it for what she brings to the table. I think she may have good vertical range? I can't remember.

Thursday: 5.5 - Status immunity + some weird situational uses. Monster-type though. So it's hard to rate it much higher.

Kurtis: 5.5 - Prinny with some unique features, but can't transmigrate into better classes, so it evens out with the regular Prinny.

EDIT: WA1 ratings + broke up the wall of text that was my Dis ratings.

[Ultradude]

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: 7/10 - Rocks the damage with his ammo supply, dies slightly less than Jack.
Jack Van Burace: 6/10 - More versatile than Rudy, but has resource issues and general 'meh' for a good chunk of the game. Pretty sexy lategame though.
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 9/10 - Cecilia.

[Taishyr]

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: 8/10 - The damage, it is shiny.
Jack Van Burace: 6.5/10 - Versatile! Fast! Takes a while to actually get going, though, while Rudy's damage is pretty consistently shiny and Cecilia's support is as well. Enough to earn him LVP, but good enough to be a 6.5 regardless.
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 9/10 - Considered 8.5, but no. After the earlygame struggle, she's easily MVP simply because of the range of options.

Disgaea:
Disgaea ("Plot" PCs):
Laharl: 7.
Etna: 6.5.
Prinny: 3. Useful for twink-breaking, but that's not maingame.
Flonne: 4.5. Magic didn't impress me maingame.
Hoggmeiser: 0.5. lol
Maderas: 0.5. lol
Gordon: 6. Needs to be earlier.
Jennifer: 4.5. See Gordon. She isn't as good, tho.
Thursday: 6. The one useful monster.
Kurtis: 3. See Prinny. Might arguably be lower but he wasn't terribly reliant on skills IIRC so.

[Talaysen]

For Wild ARMs specifically, there's also the tools issue; Rudy is useful because he has tools you can't proceed without, so...

That's like giving FF4 Rydia points because you can't get through that one mountain without her joining.  Hell, you can't beat lots of games without certain people joining.  That's not the character being good, that's the plot forcing you to get/use someone.

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: 7/10
Jack Van Burace: 7/10
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 9.5/10

Disgaea ("Plot" PCs):
Laharl: 6.5/10
Etna: 5.5/10
Prinny: 5/10
Flonne: 6/10
Hoggmeiser: 1/10
Maderas: 1/10
Gordon: 5.5/10
Jennifer: 5/10
Thursday: 5.5/10
Kurtis: 1/10

[Bobbin Cranbud]

For Wild ARMs specifically, there's also the tools issue; Rudy is useful because he has tools you can't proceed without, so...

That's like giving FF4 Rydia points because you can't get through that one mountain without her joining.  Hell, you can't beat lots of games without certain people joining.  That's not the character being good, that's the plot forcing you to get/use someone.

Eh, I don't buy that equivalence.

The puzzles are a part of the gameplay in Wild ARMs.  A major part of the gameplay.  Even if you leave out the required puzzles (which I think sells short their importance to the game), solving certain puzzles gets you optional items that are in turn useful in combat.  In Rudy's case specifically, the speed skates also let you dodge randoms in many instances (as does Hanpan getting to chests rather than walking up to them.)

[Clear Tranquil]

Wild Arms
Rudy Roughknight - 7.5/10
Jack Van Burace - 8/10
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde - 9/10 (see Snow)

Late!

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni: 8.5/10
Rena Lanford: 9/10
Celine Jules: 5/10
Dias Flac: 8/10
Leon Geeste: 4/10
Noel Chandler: 4.5/10

Only rating the ones I at least vaguely remember, not that it matters now >.>

[Talaysen]

Eh, I don't buy that equivalence.

The puzzles are a part of the gameplay in Wild ARMs.  A major part of the gameplay.  Even if you leave out the required puzzles (which I think sells short their importance to the game), solving certain puzzles gets you optional items that are in turn useful in combat.  In Rudy's case specifically, the speed skates also let you dodge randoms in many instances (as does Hanpan getting to chests rather than walking up to them.)

Optional stuff, I can see, I guess.  Required stuff, no.

[Rozalia]

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: 5/10. Weaker then Jack and to not make him a complete weakling you have to spend a massive amount of money on upgrades.
Jack Van Burace: 8/10. Never lags and if he starts to you know theres a new move coming round that'll make him great again. Owns those hp heavy twits with Soulbreaker.
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 10/10. The reason the games easy. Those stat downs/ups are broken as hell.

Disgaea ("Plot" PCs):
Laharl: 9/10. I'd be lying if I said I didn't overlevel him. Overlord's Wrath splatters things even into the endgame.
Etna: 7/10. Felt very much like a weaker Laharl.
Prinny: 1/10. Half a point for the damage it does when exploding. Worthless otherwise.
Flonne: 2/10. Could become really good but why put in the effort really? Annoying also.
Hoggmeiser: 6/10. No idea why everyone is rating him so low. Sure post game he becomes worthless but why should that be counted. I found he actually has game best damage for quite a while with darkness slash until other people get better moves, only becoming bad about 70% of the game in as he never really gets better.
Maderas: 5/10. Better then Hoggmeiser in stats and he lasts about till 90% into the game. I rate him lower as he never really dominates and really only has one move due to the crappy int stat.
Gordon: 9/10. Game best damage, moves are awesome and well, its captain Gordan.
Jennifer: 3/10. Do not remember so she must have been average.
Thursday: 8/10. Doesn't Thursday have badass stats in like all areas? Thats how I remember him so he scores high.
Kurtis: 4/10. His moves are more built around MT then the other characters who mostly target one target. This gets him some points.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: 6.5/10. Good damage, no other notable flaws besides variety.
Jack Van Burace: 4/10. Too bad Rudy with a speed medium is faster than him, and Jack with a speed medium is pretty much overkill, as well as having terrible damage (instead of merely worse than Rudy).
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 9/10. Utility stuff.

Disgaea ("Plot" PCs):
Laharl: 7/10. Early, good sword and axe rank.
Etna: 6.5/10. Early, good axe rank.
Prinny: 1/10. lulz
Flonne: 2/10. Power of Love is... something.
Hoggmeiser: 6.5/10. Basically second Rozalia. His stats and damage were badass until endgame. Endgame does matter though.
Maderas: 6/10.
Gordon: 4/10. Starting underlevelled on techs sucks.
Jennifer: 1/10. lulz. Fists are so awful, and her weapon level on anything real is a joke.
Thursday: 7/10. 150% affinities are sexy.
Kurtis: 1/10. lulz

Generics are better, so this cast I am fine with averaging a bit low.

[Meeplelard]

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: 7/10.  Rudy is your primary source of damage for most of the game.  The fact that Prism Cannon one shots enemy groups for over half the game and that's one of his first ARMs should say something.  Like Elfboy said, speed isn't a big deal; he can use a Speed Medium and lose quite literally nothing and be about Jack's speed.  Not to mention Lock On makes him do a shit load more damage against bosses.
Jack Van Burace: 5/10.  Jack has Healing Blade and that's about it on Rudy; less HP, considerably less damage until Magnum Fang kicks in, and he needs that Attack Medium to keep up...and worst yet, for a good part of the game, he relies on Meteor Drive for consistent damage, or Slash Rave for inconsistent damage.  Also, I don't buy Double Draw Hype or whatever, cause he gets it for...how long?  And most bosses are dead before you get 100 FP
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 9/10.  Yeah, absurd skillset is absurd.

Disgaea ("Plot" PCs):
Laharl: 7/10.  Maybe it was the Imperial Seal, but I seem to recall Laharl had a slightly stronger start than others which tends to be a reason why he's often the "OVERPOWERED" character as a result.  Otherwise, he's got good unique techs to compliment whatever weapon he uses, which he's good with several (most notably, Swords and Axes)
Etna: 6/10.  Laharl without Swords and Sexy Beam is pretty shitty, especially compared to Overlord's Wrath.
Prinny: 1/10.  Uh, yeah, novelty and tutorial factors aside, no reason to use these.
Flonne: 4/10.  She's alright if taught magic, but otherwise completely unspecial.
Hoggmeiser: 5/10.  I remember him pulling his weight well enough, but didn't have "awesome" damage, just good enough.
Maderas: 5.5/10.  Remember him being Hoggmeiser+ once he got an actual physical tech.
Gordon: 6.5/10. Etna plus, I felt.
Jennifer: 6/10. Fists aren't a horrible weapon, but she has some good unique skills to compliment at least.
Thursday: 6/10.  Better Monster than Maderas or Hoggmeiser, and has those nice mults and effective status immunity.  That's about it.
Kurtis: 2/10. GOOD STARTING EQUIPS!!!! ...that's about it...

[alanna82]

abstain on WA, been forever since I played the original, and never really got most of the optional stuff like Ceci's Parasol.

Laharl: 7/10
Etna: 7/10
Prinny: 5/10
Flonne: 3/10 She can heal at least
Hoggmeiser: 5/10
Maderas: 5/10
Gordon: 3/10 Yeah have a tech with the highest attack... when your a gun user and use tech >_>
Jennifer: 3/10 didnt seem as bad to me as everyone else says she is...
Thursday: 3/10
Kurtis: 1/10 LOL Kurtis.

[Meeplelard]

WARNING: THIS SESSION CONTAINS SPOILERS TO ONE (MULTIPLE) GAMES.  READ THOSE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!!!!!

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight: 6.50
Jack Van Burace: 6.33
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: 9.20

Disgaea:
Laharl: 6.94
Etna: 6.2
Prinny: 2.44
Flonne: 4.35
Hoggmeiser: 3.39
Maderas: 2.89
Gordon: 5.65
Jennifer: 4.05
Thursday: 5.45
Kurtis: 2.40

Best Rating of this session: Cecilia w/ 9.20
Worst Rating of this session: Kurtis w/ 2.40

Just so people are clear, yes, we do things by "sessions" for these "best and worst" ratings, not based on game, hence why we have a best and worst from different games!  Why do I do this?  Well, the answer is quite simple!


Chrono Trigger:
Crono:
Marle:
Lucca:
Frog:
Robo:
Ayla:
Magus:

Fire Emblem Lords, Dancers and Other Unique Classes:
Roy:
Merlinus(6):
Elphin:
Lalum:
Fa:

Lyn:
*Nils:
Eliwood:
Hector:
Merlinus(7):
Athos:

Eirika:
Ephraim:
Tethys:
Myrrh:

Ike(9):
Mist(9):
Reyson(9):
Elincia(9):

Micaiah:
Rafiel:
Black Knight:
Elincia(10):
Leanne:
Ike(10):
Mist(10):
Reyson(10):
Sanaki:
Lehran:

*Nils applies to both Nils and Ninian, since they're functionally the same character.  Just looks nicer putting one person there than both.

Lords are self explanatory.  Unique Classes...well, I was pretty arbitrary, but I went with some criteria I'd rather not get into, and I exempted people for reasons I won't get into.  So yeah, don't worry, we'll get to those other ones EVENTUALLY.  For those wondering about Laguz...I left them off on purpose, cause FE10's list was getting too big, making an exception for Herons...no, Fa and Myrrh don't count as Laguz for these purposes.
Also, for characters like Ike who appear in multiple games, I have their numbers listed so its easier to keep track of, please do not alter the name for this reason.

...
As you may have noticed, yes, we're starting with the LARGE CASTS already!  Why?  Cause I wanna start getting them out of the way, cause I said so!  We started with Fire Emblem last time for large casts...so we're doing it again!  This time, I'm adding in some games that weren't ranked last session, but still divviying it up based on Class and such, just cause its easier to keep things organized!
Also, I hope I got everyone <_<

[Cmdr_King]

Chrono Trigger:
Crono: 7/10.  CT goes out of its way, really, to make sure that Crono always has some reason to be useful.  Whether by lightning weakness or Magus' fluctuating barrier, it's just good policy to keep him around even if you could get rid of him.  Rage Band/Rainbow is a fun setup too, of course.
Marle: 6/10.  Alright.
Lucca: 5/10.  She likes her special equips but otherwise meeh.
Frog: 6/10.  I like the way he combos and generally use him as much as possible, but probably not an objective thing.
Robo: 5/10.  Slowness is the CK killer.  Death to the slowness.
Ayla: 7/10. 
Magus: 5/10.  Kinda a novelty due to starting so far behind on skills.  Still, fun to play around with.

Fire Emblem Lords, Dancers and Other Unique Classes:
Roy: 4/10.  Entirely too prone to RNG hate and the promotion is stupid.  Sealed Sword is fine and all but at 20 charges doesn't justify it at all.  Point for Lilina support though.
Merlinus(6): 2/10.  Waste of a party slot since he won't ever level.
Elphin: 6/10.  Not up to Nils level and the low move was problematic (If I'd thought about it I've have nabbed those Boots).  Still, good at bardy things and gained all the stats he could really, at least for me, so not really all that vulnerable even.
Lalum: Abstain.  She's Elphin's counterpart, right?  Yeah, didn't get her.
Fa: 2/10.  30 attacks ever?  Really game?  And then she's forced in the last map for no real reason?  Argggh.  It's not even like Myrrh who has 66% more attacks and hits weakness on like EVERY ENEMY LEFT.  And even if she can nail Mamkutes, they have killer defense so she still can't OHKO them.  STILL.  The enemies she's forced to fight are all slow ass Mamkutes she can outrun so she's not in the active liability range (so no 1 or 0).

Lyn: 8/10.  Mmm, smash.
*Nils: 8/10.  Great stuff.
Eliwood: 5/10.  Meh.
Hector: 7/10.  Good solid unit.  Can run into bad speed luck easily, but never bad.
Merlinus(7): 4/10.  Could be worse.  He's completely free if nothing else.
Athos: 8/10.  Great safety net. 

Eirika: 8/10.
Ephraim: 9/10.  The game really doesn't know how to deal with Ephraim/Tana ripping its face off.
Tethys: Abstain.  Never really used Tethys.
Myrrh: 6/10.   Novelty unit, but an interesting one.  Probably not objectively worth it but could be a lot worse (see above)

Ike(9): 8/10.
Mist(9): 7/10.  Being the second healer kinda sucks with my playstyle, but I can't argue with Sonic Sword SMASH.
Reyson(9): 7/10.  I feel like FE10 really makes Laguz easier to use and... I dunno, Reyson felt unbelievably squishy.
Elincia(9): 6/10.  NOvelty (again).  A lot of fun though.

Micaiah: 5/10.  Speed.  Speed.  GAIN SOME GODDAMNED SPEED.
Rafiel: 6/10.  Squishy but otherwise excellent.
Black Knight: 7/10.  win button.  Ditches you when you really need him though (fuck you C3 DB chapters)
Elincia(10): 9/10.  WHAT IS FE10 AMITI ON.  Oh yeah she's still the flying physic spamming doom healer.
Leanne: 7/10.  Took extra babying relative to Rafiel but... Canto.
Ike(10): 7/10.  The competition is a lot fiercer, is about how I feel.
Mist(10): 5/10.  Meh.  Utterly overshadowed by Elincia and losing MAGIC SWORD SMASH means she's just not a viable attacker.
Reyson(10): 9/10.  So, canto+fe10 laguz+SUPER BARD+best stats of the herons...
Sanaki: 4/10.  Not really worth it.
Lehran: abstain.  Haven't bothered to try and get him.  Those are some crazy requirements.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Chrono Trigger:
Crono: 6. Not bad, and hey, he has Triple Techs with everyone!
Marle: 7.5. Could be higher. Healing is great, but she's a lot more of a liability than some of the better healers in RPGs.
Lucca: 4.
Frog: 6.
Robo: 4.
Ayla: 7. Speed sells it.
Magus: 8. Kneejerk.

Fire Emblem Lords, Dancers and Other Unique Classes:
Roy: 4.
Merlinus(6): 2. Jerk just died all the time.
Elphin: Who?
Lalum: Dancer, right?
Fa: 7. Manakete smash.

Lyn: 8. Really solid Lord.
*Nils: 6.5
Eliwood: 3. Try to die less.
Hector: 8. Axes are that other part of the Weapon Triangle that I so rarely use. Hector showed us that they can be useful.
Merlinus(7): 5. Better.
Athos: 8.5 I thought I'd handle that pesky last map for you.

Eirika: 7. Good, but FE8's easy.
Ephraim: 6.5 Good, but FE8's easy and others can do his job better.
Tethys: 6.5 All FE bards are right about here.
Myrrh: 7. Manakete Smash.

Ike(9): 8.5
Mist(9): 5.
Reyson(9): 6.5
Elincia(9): 5.5 IF you actually blow a bunch of bonus EXP on her, she's a good Flyer. Just... so lategame. Good supports with Ike, though!

This time, I'm adding in some games that weren't ranked last session, but still divviying it up based on Class and such, just cause its easier to keep things organized!

That seems like it would inflate good members of a certain class. Just for example, you're looking at all the Archers... you remember that so-and-so was a crap Archer: rate him 2. And that so-and-so was good Archer: rate him 8. Especially since they're right there next to eachother and you will subconsciously compare them. Then you remember that no Archer is worth an 8 compared to a Cavalier. Alternately, it may encourage comparing -only- the classes, so you'll see a lot of All Archers are 4s, all Peg Knights are 10s, or something.

Just not sure it's the way to do it. Especially since you could just divvy it up by game and be running the same number of PCs per session... >.>;;

[Fudozukushi]

Chrono Trigger:
Crono: 7/10 Real good overall.
Marle: 3/10 Always felt worthless to me.
Lucca: 5/10 FLARE
Frog: 4/10 I want to rank him higher but can't.
Robo: 5/10 Decent enough all around.
Ayla: 6/10 Probably.  Least used.
Magus: 6/10 Good, but by the time I get him I'm usually smashing everything fast enough anyway so his MT isn't as useful.

[Bobbin Cranbud]

Chrono Trigger

Crono 8.5/10: Forced most of the game, but why not, he's excellent.  Very fast, good damage dealer, combos with everyone.  Just BEING forced helps him, because he tends to learn techs earlier than the others who bop in and out.  He could have more utility powers, I suppose, but if you only have one healing/utility power, why not make it revival?

Marle 7/10: The first and best healer, and she also has support abilities, so obviously she's going to see a lot of use.  But, CT isn't a game with no other serious options (HI RENA) and I ultimately didn't use her all the time.

Lucca 3/10: Lucca is awesome... but not in gameplay.  Honestly, she feels like the weakest/least-useful member of the cast.  IIRC her lategame damage is good.  To get there she'd have to be used regularly, though, and I didn't.

Frog 5/10: Useful at first, but kind of falls off as you get other options.

Robo 5.5/10: Kneejerking him as being better than Frog?  He seems better at crowd control than Frog without really losing much.

Ayla 7/10: Joins fairly late but is really good.  Charm for stealing, Kiss for healing, and the best physical attacker (aside, I think, from Crono?).

Magus 7.5/10: Magus is only this low because 1. everyone else except Crono (who I feel is a smidgeon more useful) and Lucca (who I feel kind of sucks to begin with) has at least some kind of healing, and 2. he joins late and learns his techs slow.  Still, variety of elements + powerful magical attacks + excellent speed + non-fail physical.

Fire Emblem Lords, Dancers and Other Unique Classes

Ike(9) 10/10: Every time I've played it he's been the runaway MVP, dwarfing everyone else in power by a margin I almost never see in a game.  I'm given to understand this is RNG screw for others (Oscar) and RNG blessing for Ike, but it is what it is.  Even when he's "weak" he's not exactly Brigandine-Lance weak, having to be babied; he's the fourth-strongest character until Shinon and Gatrie leave (and IMX starts catching up to Shinon by the end of that stretch) and second-strongest prior to promotion.  For me he was already the MVP as soon as he promoted (he very nearly soloed the battle with Jill's father on Hard, for example).

Mist(9) 3/10: Gets a point for being useful if she's babied to promotion.  But you have to go out of your way to raise her and Rhys is more than adequate.

Reyson(9) 7/10: Only as good as the people around him, but those are pretty darn good by the time he joins.  .5 extra because he nets you the Knight Ring.

Elincia(9) 5.5/10: She can be very good, but she joins late, requires a degree of babying and doesn't have anything like the decisive advantage the way she does in FE10.

Micaiah 6/10: -9.5/10 for FAIL.  But much as I hate to admit it, she's extremely important in the Dawn Brigade sections of the game, and even when the parties join up she remains a useful caster for long-range bombardment.  On the flip side, she ALWAYS requires protection and she takes an endgame party slot that could be put to far better use.

Rafiel 2/10: I wouldn't want more than one Heron and he's not as good as the others.  Useful when he's your only Heron, I guess?

Black Knight 6/10: Very hard to rate, IMO.  On the one hand, he's obviously far, far beyond other characters when he's available.  On the other hand, using him more than the bare minimum leaves the Dawn Brigade even worse than they usually are.  On the gripping hand, you do, if not NEED to use him, at least struggle a lot to avoid it.

Elincia(10) 9/10: Now we're talking!  Elincia starts out better and has a more comfortable level curve, quickly reaches a point where she needs little or no protection, and provides both mobile healing and powerful attacks.  If she were available for a greater percentage of the game she might crack the 10s.

Leanne 1.5/10: Not!Reyson Heron.  Manages to be extra-frail even by Heron standard, which is saying something.  Also, not really critical for the sequences when she's the only Heron available.

Ike(10) 7.5/10: Instead of being unbelievably better than everyone else, Ike is now merely very good.  Oh, he casually pwns many of his own, pre-endgame chapters, but that's a mix of level edge and weapon edge; by endgame he isn't even the best fighter.  On top of that, he's not available in quite a few sections of the game.

Mist(10) 7/10: Inferior to Elincia in basically every way, and she has to be built up to be really good.  But, it's easier to build her up than in FE9, she's better when she IS built up, and "inferior to Elincia" is not even a knock considering Elincia is the MVP.

Reyson(10) 7.5: Just like FE9 Reyson, except you actually have a choice (and he's the clear leader) and he has more overpowered people to give extra turns to, making him even more of a force multiplier.

Sanaki 6/10: Best mage unless you really, really leveled Micaiah, and maybe even then?  Feels about right.  But she's not available that long, and mages generally aren't as good as fighters anyway.  Her main use is as long-range artillery.

[Taishyr]

Chrono Trigger:
Crono: 8.5/10. Would be 6.5-7 normally (fast damage dealer, forced, no other real tricks) but Lightning is CT's godelement and he's your only source of it until very late game. And I'm not kidding on the god-element thing. Lightning is the bane of so much of the bloody game, and he has no real competition for it.
Marle: 4/10. Good early healer, her tricks and shit aren't worth the later spot though.
Lucca: 6/10. Excellent very early, excellent endgame. The gap in between these two points kinda hurts. Is your only Fire source for a while, tho... oh, right, Lucca gets a shitton of unique equips, especially in DS version. ....sure, 6/10 works with that.
Frog: 4/10. Combos pretty well. Uh. Not much else.
Robo: 6/10.  Only source of Shadow for a while, one of your two sources of good physical damage as well. Shines lategame. Shines harder in DS aftergame. Eh, this works.
Ayla: 8/10. Charm. Solid damage, combos brilliantly with Crono and has the best speed to keep up with him. Gets a lightning Double Tech that isn't Spire/whatevertheDSversioncalledit, and that isn't extremely endgame. Backup healer, can remove status. Yeah, for both breaking the game (Charm) or just playing through (tech combos, high damage) she's excellent. Hurts a bit due to late arrival, but hey, nothing much to Charm before that~
Magus: 6/10. Best character, probably (hits all elements, admittedly MT; situational (very) ID, a buff, and brutal Triple Techs if you care and if you drop Crono)... but the endgame joinup? Hurts. Still, probably one of your better choices if you're willing to neglect Double Techs and/or build for the Triple Techs.

Low healer respect after my recent playthrough, stuff tends to suck at damage/you get too many items for me to be worried about a healer. Revival's kinda worrisome since items suck there, but Crono gets a fast, semi-competent revive... Marle's only niche is a full-heal revival. :/

Will look over FEstuff later.


Fire Emblem Lords, Dancers and Other Unique Classes:

Lyn: 8/10. Damaging, evasive.
*Nils: 7/10. Iunno, I used him a lot.
Eliwood: 4/10. Can be a liability in various cases, I feel. Not a good thing to be able to say of a Lord.
Hector: 8/10. Damaging, durable. Late join compared to Lyn, compensated by being one of the few competent Axe users.
Merlinus(7): 4/10. Cmdr's logic works.
Athos: 6/10. 10/10 for the map he's on, but... uh... wow, join at the end of things much?

Eirika: 6.5/10. Evasive... after a point. Damaging after that point as well. Iunno, never felt much other than "competent, non-Eliwood, can be used" from her.
Ephraim: 9/10. Why hello there BAM BAM BAM BAM.
Tethys: 4/10. Nrrrgh. Splitpath issues IIRC, lateish join, but she is a dancer, and giving Eph more turns is always nice.
Myrrh: 6/10. Athos, trading joining a fair bit earlier for limited ammunition and somewhat odd leveling issues. Competent, still, though.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Chrono Trigger:

Crono: 4/10. Not an active hindrance, but honestly always felt one of the most replaceable PCs. His magic doesn't impress much, his speed only becomes truly impressive by the time you already have Ayla and is always tied to his weapon and Speed Tabs at that point already exist, making the difference not hard to mitigate. I feel like his forced stint makes him look better than he actually is. And the lategame is where he's at his worst to boot (Lightning starts failing at life as an element and Luminaire's mult doesn't make up for his base magic when everybody's caught up in skills). Lightning is only really -good- on the first two pre-historic dungeons, and that's not a ton of the game.
Marle: 6/10. Unlike Tai, I found her utility worth the spot, and CT emphasizes magical damage a lot, which means her pdur failure isn't as much of a problem. Haste and gamebest healing are worth the trouble, at least.
Lucca: 6/10. Starts off horrendously slow, but she's your strongest mage for most of the game and Fire isn't resisted very often. Also gets good MT early and the speed is fixable.
Frog: 4/10. Worst healer, and has Marle-level offense to compensate! Oh wait no.
Robo: 7/10. Arguably the best physicaller, the utility works well to a degree. The endgame domination ekes him up a point to me, I guess. The MDur hurts, though.
Ayla: 8/10. While I don't give that much credit for stealing usually, you get so much from Ayla's Charm - including Speed Tab abuse. Past that, she also has the highly desirable combo of high speed and good offense, and her MDef actually isn't that bad.
Magus: 6/10. Joining late gives him issues, and he's kinda limited. The speed+MT emphasis are cool, though.

Fire Emblem Lords, Dancers and Other Unique Classes:

Roy: 4/10. Goes that high due to pulling his weight in the earlygame and giving Lilina a great support.
Merlinus(6): 1/10. Absolutely pointless in FE6.
Elphin: 6/10. Bard/Dancer, does what he does well. FE6 stat caps hurt, though.
Lalum: 6/10. See Elphin.
Fa: 3/10. Urgh, weapon limitations and starting at L1.

Lyn: 8.5/10. Pretty much great. Two good weapons, good supports, a highly desirable stat spread. 
*Nils: 8.5/10. FE7 was where Bards/Dancers were at their best in the games I played. Not ramming into epic failure caps also helps.
Eliwood: 5/10. Very much at the mercy of the RNG. Has solid supports, at least.
Hector: 7/10. Dominates early. Later, his issues start showing through, but he still pulls his weight. Solid supports too.
Merlinus(7): 5/10. Isn't pointless! Later on, he becomes a pretty cool little wall too.
Athos: 8/10. I guess he only exists for a map or two, but he's so goddamn dominating on them.

Eirika: 8.5/10. Much like Lyn, but trades bows for more move. Balances.
Ephraim: 9/10. Godly.
Tethys: 7/10. FE Bard/Dancer with FE7 and onwards stats. No buffs make her less amazing, but she's still fine.
Myrrh: 3/10. See Fa.