Rank Characters based on In Game Use: Reboot!

[Meeplelard]

Yeah, just starting from scratch cause new people have come, not many interesting games were left in the old topic, opinions have changed, and I need a reason to smack some of you more for not paying attention to directions!

Anyway, simply put, rank a character based on how they are in game.  What criteria you use...dunno, but its just in game stuff, naturally I assume you're smart enough to ignore obvious things like "Character is awesome if you cheat in their ultimate weapon from the get go!" or "Godlike based on the first 10% of the game where they are overleveled!  Yes, I'm ignoring how they're significantly worse after!" (No one has said anything like that, mind, just random example of a stupid biased vote.  I've seen plenty of people giving bonus points or something in that scenario, but that's different!)

Format is quite simple.  I list characters, you rate them on a scale of 0 to 10; 10 being the highest of the broken and 0 being the "Completely useless NEVER USE" score.  A few quick notes though!

-I accept x.5s.  I do NOT want to see x.25s or anything like that.  Those just get complicated to read; just keep the decimals to 1/10th of a point at most and ideally, nothing beyond a "5" being listed there <_<
-Please put your official number in a way that's easy to read.  Either bold the number you want counted *OR* just place it at the beginning of the character.  It avoids scenarios where someone goes "well, they're  7/10 at the beginning of the game, but 3/10 by the end, so...5/10 overall, yeah, that works!"  I don't read comments when I do averages, cause it takes too long, I just look at numbers; this saves me a lot of pain and makes things more accurate.  So yeah, just please make your "official" number obvious to read.
-No Bonus/Penalty points based on how much you like a character.  I don't mean a playstyle thing mind; obviously some subjectivity is going to be involved.  What I mean is going "This character is pretty, +2 points for that alone!"  type stuff.
-DNRs  ARE allowed. If there are more DNR votes than normal votes, then the character gets removed from the list.  I urge you to please not label "DNR" when you mean "Abstain."  Furthermore, please use some rational thought when using a DNR; naturally, permanent/regular characters I expect to not see DNRs for (Abstains are fine, obviously), so this mostly applies to Temps or bizarre scenario PCs.  And DNRing on grounds of "Should be ranked later!" should be avoided too (applies to cast splits for things like Suikodens); I don't care if you don't agree with where this character got placed, this is when he's getting ranked, so just rank him now.
--As a branch off to DNRs, you *CAN* say DNR (x/10), if you want to give the person a rating but feels they should be DNRed.  I'll treat it as a DNR vote, but if they fail to get DNRed, I will count your numerical rating towards their average.  That's fine, so feel free!
-Characters in multiple games should be ranked based on the game in question being ranked.  Yes, Yuri is in 2 Shadow Hearts games, but for these purposes, he's to be ranked as two separate characters.
-I want at least 5 votes before I can move on, so if we're stuck on a cast and you can vote on it and want it to move on, VOTE DAMN IT! Less than 5 votes on someone is equivalent to DNRing someone, cause 5 is a minimal sample size as far as I'm concerned.
-Please do NOT try to be cute regarding character names and change them as they are listed; it makes it a lot harder on me when the name doesn't match the Ctrl+F function.  So if I name someone by one name and you put in their japanese name or something cause hey, you like it more...no, don't do that, its a dick move.
--Branching from that, if I have a genuine name spelling wrong, you can change it, but PLEASE signify that the name was spelled wrong so I know to fix it; that's being helpful see.  Just changing the name makes life harder, especially if the names are completely different (Deis vs. Bleu comes to mind)


I know, I bog things down with rules, but paranoia and trying to avoid some shit from the previous topic where people tried stunts, or were constantly saying "DNR" when they meant "Abstain" and what not.   Really, a lot of this should go without saying...its the same as DL Rankings for the most part, maybe with a more harsher DNR Curve.

Characters are generally listed either in rough order of appearance *OR* alphabetical order; feel its a good objective way to list things.  Note that when I say "appearance", I tend the change the definition on a whim be it "Literal appearance" or "first gameplay moment" or "how the manual lists them" etc.
So with that in mind, LETS GET THINGS UNDERWAY!!!!

*THIS SPOT RESERVED FOR QUICK LINKS TO FINAL RANKINGS*


Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni:
Rena Lanford:
Celine Jules:
Dias Flac:
Ashton Anchors:
Opera Vectra:
Precis Neuman:
Bowman Jean:
Leon Geeste:
Ernest Raviede:
Noel Chandler:
Chisato Madison:

Note that the game order I do is UTTERLY RANDOM, and I tend to choose on the spot, so trying to request games unless I specifically ask for ones is typically going nowhere (I often just poll chat and work from there <_<.)

EDIT:
If you want to skip to ratings and see what everyone got, or if you want a list to reference what we did, well, here you go!  This is where the FINAL ratings ended up, so if you want to see what everyone else (that counted) said, check just before it!  Going in alphabetical order, # is the Page its on.  I'm also listing ratings that are being done as we speak, just in case you're curious.  So an "*ongoing*" means the ratings are being done NOW and you should RATE WHILE YOU STILL CAN or something.

Bravely Default: 46
Breath of Fire: 12
Breath of Fire 2: 19
Breath of Fire 3: 26
Breath of Fire 4: 34
Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter: 28
Chrono Cross: 17-21
Chrono Trigger: 4
Cthulu Saves the World: 34
Digital Devil Saga: 43
Digital Devil Saga 2: 45
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: 2
Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories: 45
Dragon Quest 4: 27
Dragon Quest 8: 17
Earthbound: 37
Final Fantasy (Original and DoS): 41
Final Fantasy 3 (DS): 40
Final Fantasy 4 (Advance): 36
Final Fantasy 4: The After Years: 36
Final Fantasy 5 (Advance) Jobs: 29
Final Fantasy 6: 28
Final Fantasy 7: 24
Final Fantasy 8: 22
Final Fantasy 9: 16
Final Fantasy 10: 6
Final Fantasy 13: 31
Final Fantasy Tactics PCs: 21
Final Fantasy Tactics Generics: 22
Final Fantasy Tactics Monsters: 24
Fire Emblem 6-10: 4-12 (I might split this up so you know exactly who is where)
Fire Emblem Awakening: 33 (34 for 2 decimal rankings)
Grandia: 26
Grandia 2: 29
Grandia 3: 30
Kingdom Hearts: 40
Legaia 2: 39
Legend of Dragoon: 15
Legend of Legaia: 19
Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals: 25
Lunar Eternal Blue Complete: 40
Lunar Silver Star Story Complete: 11
Mana Khemia: 9
Mana Khemia 2: 34
Mega Man X Command Mission: 5
Mother 3: 44
Ogre Battle: 38
Persona 3: 40
Persona 4: 25
Phantasy Star 4: 16
Pokemon Gen 2: 41-43
Radiant Historia: 32
SaGa Frontier: 25-27
Secret of Mana: 18
Seiken Densetsu 3: 43
Shadow Hearts: 14
Shadow Hearts Covenant: 20
Shadow Hearts: From the New World: 38
Skies of Arcadia (Legends): 10
Star Ocean: 2nd Story: 1
Star Ocean 3: Til The End of Time: 18
Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope: 37
Super Mario RPG: 7
Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier: 38
Suikodens: 29-34 *incomplete*
Tales of Graces F: 38
Tales of Phantasia: 38
Tales of Symphonia: 39
Tales of the Abyss: 8
Tales of Vesperia: 45
Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy: *on-going*
Valkyrie Profile: 13
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria: 44
Wild ARMs: 2
Wild ARMs 2nd Ignition: 17
Wild ARMs Advanced 3rd: 24
Wild ARMs 4th Detonator: 25
Wild ARMs XF: 39
Xenogears (On Foot): 14
Xenogears (Gears): 15
Xenosaga: Dur Will zur Macht: 24
Xenosaga 2: Jenseits von Gut und Bose: 30
Xenosaga 3: Also Spracht Zarahustra: 38

BONUS ROUNDS:
Devil May Cry Weapons: 17
Mega Man Weapons: 25
Mega Man 2 Weapons: 38
Mega Man 3 Weapons: 27
Phoenix Wright Lawyers: 40

EDIT: Moving them here because probably fits better:

Top 20 Ratings:
1. Minato Arisato (Pers3) 10.00
2t. Ryu (BoF3) 9.80
2t. Yuna (FFX) 9.80
4. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SH1) 9.53
5. Hyuga "Citan Uzuki" Ricdeau (XG) 9.46
6. Souji Seta (P4) 9.44
7. Blue (SaGa) 9.28
8. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SHC) 9.25
9. Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde (WA1) 9.20
10. Haar (FE10) 9.17
11t. Deis (BoF2) 9.11
11t. Reyson (FE10) 9.11
13. Dark Knight (BD) 9.10
14. Lenneth Valkyrie (VP(:L)) 9.02
15. Ephraim (FE8) 9.01
16t. Lugia (PKMN GSC) 9.00
16t White Mage (BD) 9.10
18. Summoner (FF5) 8.96
19. Robin/Avatar (FE13) 8.94
20t. Fogel (OB) 8.90
20t. Ho-Oh (PKMN GSC) 8.90
22. Elincia (FE10) 8.85
23. Tibarn (FE10) 8.83

Top 25 Failures:
1t. Tree (FFT) 0.50
1t. Unown (PKMN GSC) 0.50
3. Rei (SaGa) 0.67
4. Karla (FE7) 0.77
5t. Hitmontop (PKMN GSC) 0.80
5t. Magcargo (PKMN GSC) 0.80
5t. Red Turnip (SaGa) 0.80
5t. Slime (SaGa) 0.80
9. Chu-chu (XG) 0.85
10. Hitmonchan (PKMN GSC) 0.90
11t. Silence (SaGa) 0.92
11t. Delbird (PKMN GSC) 0.92
13. Marlboro (FFT) 0.93
14. Uribo (FFT) 0.94
15t. Ariados (PKMN GSC) 1.00
15t. Harley (FF4TAY) 1.00
15t. Maria Balthasar (XG) 1.00
15t. Mr. Mime (PKMN GSC) 1.00
15t. Tyranitar (PKMN GSC) 1.00
15t. Yanma (PKMN GSC) 1.00
21. Malak Golthana (FFT) 1.03
22. Byblos (FFT) 1.06
23. Connie 1.08
24. Douglas (FE6) 1.10
25. Skeleton (FFT) 1.13


NOTE: I am expanding this list to Top/Bottom 30 in the near future, hence why I am leaving Bottom 20 the way it is; just more convenient.

[superaielman]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni: 8.5/10. Excellent fighter, excellent at item creation, and has a great pool of equips.
Rena Lanford: 9/10. Only mage worth using.
Celine Jules: 5/10. Surprisingly useful; she has earlygame use and her item creation skills she starts with can help break the game hard.
Dias Flac: 8/10. Probably the game's best all around fighter; and the only one who competes with Claude on the equip front. His only real problem is being splitpath.
Ashton Anchors: 5/10. Good payoff late, but he's so meh until then.
Opera Vectra: 7.5/10. A on one is pretty Godlike, but it is all she has besides healing star. Still is good unless you are playing above earth! In which case, *Flush*.
Precis Neuman: 7/10. Equips+Barrier is nasty if you get it. She starts off fairly weak though and you need to spend some time investing in her to make her good.
Bowman Jean: 6.5/10. Starts bad, ends good.
Leon Geeste: 1.5/10. Urk. Not only costs you Dias, but has no real merits on his own. SO2 magic is bad.
Ernest Raviede: 2/10. Battle suits!!! Otherwise isn't worth using.
Noel Chandler: 0.5/10. Noel. He also has terrible equips a nd gets nothing of use until late.
Chisato Madison: 3/10. Unremarkable PC who joins late, the only thing in her favor is the Algol.

[SageAcrin]

Don't really value IC abilities for specific characters, on the grounds that I can't recall an eight character team that can fail anything notable, as a disclaimer.

Claude Kenni: 8/10. Gamebest KMs across the board(Well, his first two are worse than some other people's first two, admittedly, which sucks a little due to him being so early and does knock him back a point.), gamebest equips. Has no real downsides. Great character.
Rena Lanford: 8/10. Good healer, game can deal fatal damage to people in randoms, let alone boss fights, and the game may as well only have one healer. The only reason she's not 9/10 is that I can and have done hard boss fights without her, using Compounding for a while, and fundamentally that's actually more effective...just a lot more of a pain in the ass.
Celine Jules: 5/10. Jeigan. Great early, drops off around the disc swap. Unlike Jeigan does not steal EXP.
Dias Flac: 7/10. Good raw power, *great* speed on his KMs. Lacks a good tie-up KM, meaning he has issues on higher modes(where he'll get blocked more due to failing to keep someone in stunlock as well as some others) but his KMs are just killer for coming off fast, executing fully fast, and doing damage fast. Good equips, too.
Ashton Anchors: 5/10. Utter trash for most of the game outside of the overly expensive Leaf Slash(Which is pretty good though, albiet not incredible) but pays off...a bit after Celine becomes obsolete. Pretty good.
Opera Vectra: 7.5/10. Loses half a point for Universe requiring heavy power twinking to so much as scratch paint, and for Galaxy requiring some to do any real damage. During the normal game she's easily as good as Claude though, incredible mults make up for the lousy weaponry and the areas she strikes in are all excellent, including the game's only real ranged damage. Healing Star, Flame Launcher, Alpha on One and Hyper Launcher are all really killer if you bother with them, and you don't really have to thanks to Alpha. <_<
Precis Neuman: 7/10. I find her better than super seems to but rate her the same, due to seeing SO2 as not having a massive use difference curve. She had a few moves that are excellent tie-up moves for the point in the early-game, Ally-Oop being totally impossible to avoid having connect if the move starts is pretty damn awesome against a few enemies later(Amusingly it's so early that it's impossible to notice or care about this though. It's pretty funny to see Iseria try to avoid it and fail.), Mole was okay too. But yeah, Barrier, is sick, etc.
Bowman Jean: 5.5/10. Poison Pills is good. Every other move is awful for ages and Poison Pills is just good like Leaf Slash, not good like @ on One(Though I find Poison Pills cleanly superior to Leaf Slash honestly). Explosion Pills are good but ram into elemental issues to a degree, which by that stage are sorta common. Bleh, he's never bad though.
Leon Geeste: 3/10. Can't say I really think of him as costing you Dias, myself, separate plotline and all. Still, he's...not much, he's the best lategame mage but he comes in about two hours from mages dropping off. He's not...horrid despite this, but he's definitely bad.
Ernest Raviede: 3/10. bleeeeehhhhh Thousand Whips for no good reason stuns the fuck out of him on block, like many skills, but unlike many skills seems really narrow on hitbox, enemies walk out of it after the block really easy in my experience. Broken Heart is good but good like Explosion Pills(well it lacks the elemental issue but hits less area). Dimension Whip is killer as a starting KM but that takes leveling to see happen. As far as I care he may as well not have other moves(And I'm usually pretty generous to iffy moves, the only other move I'd even consider using is that silly tornado move, Sonic Whip I believe, and it's just not much to me.).
Noel Chandler: 1.5/10. -.5 for the AI, which makes even getting anything notable out of him a god damn pain in the ass, but even without that, his lack of Magic equipment makes him damn near as bad at dealing magical damage as Rena(His theoretical edge on her. Don't say Earthquake, just don't. Noah is better than Star Flare but not massively...), he's late, he may keep you from getting Ernest/Chisato(damn if anyone else is going to get dropped), he's a worse healer than Rena, and he has no notable advantages to make up for any of this. He's obsolete from moment one, and while there's room to defend him on his own merits(If Rena didn't exist), that doesn't help his use to me much. And there's never a real reason you need two healers. Blah. Only reason he's not lower is because healer is the only useful mage at that point, and he *does* admittedly outdamage Rena a little, so if you're very into micromanagement and don't mind losing some healing options in your healer he's not total trash.
Chisato Madison: 5/10. Dias-. Worse equips, but her good moves are very similar all in all to his on raw mults and are as fast, but tend to have more hits(meaning she oddly takes to offense twinking better than he does probably), and she has better area control(Ten Thousand Volts is underrated, stupidly fast windup. She can get off a second shot before the first leaves the screen fully.). The equips are that much worse though, and she has nothing quite as shiny as Illusion; her last two moves are junky. Ah well.

[Taishyr]

Claude Kenni: 9/10. One of the gamebest fighters right at the beginning!
Rena Lanford: 6/10. In part due to PSP remake where the damage is even worse, but... items did me well through most of my replay. Useful enough to have a spot 95% of the time, but...
Celine Jules: 4/10. Useful Jeigan, magic has occasional use later but.
Dias Flac: 7.5/10. Splitpath (and costs you Battle Armors via proxy), but very good. I hesitate to call him better than Claude but YMMV. Would be 9 if was simply splitpath via choice between him/Leon, and not between Rena/Claude.
Ashton Anchors: 5/10. Would be higher but taking him means losing out on Battle Suits. Competent but not great. Splitpath.
Opera Vectra: 5/10. Competent but not great. Splitpath.
Precis Neuman: 7/10. BARRIER. Splitpath, but doesn't cost you Armors so tied with Dias almost. Takes time to get going.
Bowman Jean: 7/10. See Precis. Both are pretty useful, sadly can't get both.
Leon Geeste: 0.5/10. Splitpath. Replaces DIAS. Celine's just kinda better on the magic front IMO. Sooooo yeaaaaah.
Ernest Raviede: 2/10. Battle Suits.
Noel Chandler: 1/10. HEALING + BLOODY ARMOR!!!111!! yeah okay whatevs.
Chisato Madison: 5/10. Joining late? Bad. Having a pretty damn impressive skillset ingame? Worth it. Still, way too late.

*Welch: 4/10. Obscurish, skillset kinda blows for a fighter, but she isn't Ernest.

[Dunefar]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:

Claude Kenni: 10/10. Claude's the best PC by a country mile.  Great equips, great skills, great stats. Plus you have him the entire game.
Rena Lanford: 8/10. She's never outstanding but she's always useful.  That's worth a bunch of points.
Celine Jules: 5/10. Jeigan sums it up. She's mostly useful for IC and skills early on but can be a support member until Nede.
Dias Flac: 9.5/10. He'd be a ten if it wasn't for two things. Claude existing and Claude getting the triple attack of doom in the PSP remake. He's fast, has Air Slash, deals good damage, has Air Slash, Crimson Diablos competes with the Eternal Sphere for awesomeness and he has Air Slash.
Ashton Anchors: 5/10 Mediocrity.
Opera Vectra: 6/10 Good but pretty much relies on one move. Also sputters out hard if you raise the difficulty.
Precis Neuman: 7.5 BARRIER BARRIER BARRIER BARRIER BARRIER BARRIER BARRIER BARRIER. She has issues with SP and taking hits, but you know what? BARRIER.
Bowman Jean: 3/10. Eclipsed by Precis.
Leon Geeste: 1/10. Celine without what makes Celine good.
Ernest Raviede: 1/10. A point for having Battle Suits to steal. I'm convinced this is an apology for how much he sucks in battle.
Noel Chandler: 0/10. Worthless.
Chisato Madison: 5.5/10. Has potential, but she's a pain to get and takes time to learn.

Write-in: Welch: 3/10. Gimmick character who kinda sucks.

[VySaika]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni: 10/10. See Dune, frankly.
Rena Lanford: 8/10. Again, see Dune.
Celine Jules: 5/10. DAMMIT DUNE GET OUT OF MY HEAD.
Dias Flac: 8/10. Very good, but Claude just feels better in basically every way that counts.
Ashton Anchors: 5/10. Good, not great. Nothing else to say here.
Opera Vectra: 8/10. Fanboyism might be coming into play here. I don't play on the higher diff modes, so I'm also not going to hold those against her.
Precis Neuman: 7/10. Barrier~
Bowman Jean: 6/10. While I like Bowman more, I'll admit that Precis is better. Still find him better then Ashton, though.
Leon Geeste: 1/10. Once again, see Dune.
Ernest Raviede: 2/10. Just lacking across the board. Wish he was better, but so it goes.
Noel Chandler: 1/10. Giving him the same ranking as Leon almost feels insulting to Leon.
Chisato Madison: 5/10. Would be higher if she was earlier.

Welch: 3/10. Yeah, she's kinda not good.

[Veryslightlymad]

Claude Kenni: 10/10 (A pretty darn fast normal attack, and on top of that, he's just plain better than almost everyone else. He's got great KMs to boot.)

Rena Lanford: 9.5/10 (Good healer. Not totally necessary, though.)

Celine Jules: 2/10 (Never really has much use.)

Dias Flac: 9/10 (One of the better KMers.)

Ashton Anchors: 7/10 (Good, but not great.)

Opera Vectra: 7/10 (Similar to above)

Precis Neuman: 6/10 (Just... nearly every KMer is a better choice, save Ernest.)

Bowman Jean: 10/10 (Pillspam. It really IS a viable tactic for the entire bloody game.)

Leon Geeste: 4/10 (Is useful for maybe three fights.)

Ernest Raviede: 4/10 (Worst KMer in the game. Still better than the mages for the most part.)

Noel Chandler: 4/10 (He can heal, so he's better than Celine. Otherwise... well...)

Chisato Madison: 7/10 (Has some decent, averagish attacks.)

[alanna82]

Claude Kenni: 10/10 Eternal Sphere is that darn broken
Rena Lanford: 9/10 Mass healing
Celine Jules: 6/10 Early game is useful
Dias Flac: 5/10 Never found him useful at all
Ashton Anchors: 8/10 Good second fighter
Opera Vectra: 9/10 Good fighter and can heal all
Precis Neuman: 7/10 Fun and Quirky fighter
Bowman Jean: 3/10 Useless.
Leon Geeste: 2/10 Even more useless
Ernest Raviede: 1/10 Most useless
Noel Chandler: 4/10 Can use the Bloody armor and can heal all
Chisato Madison: 9/10 Massive multi hit moves and awesome equipment options. Need  I say more

Wow My opinions greatly differ. 

[Talaysen]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni: 8/10
Rena Lanford: 8/10
Celine Jules: 6/10
Dias Flac: 6.5/10
Ashton Anchors: 7/10
Opera Vectra: 5.5/10
Precis Neuman: 5/10
Bowman Jean: 5/10
Leon Geeste: 1/10
Ernest Raviede: Abstain/10
Noel Chandler: 2/10
Chisato Madison: 6/10

[Random Consonant]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni: Smashes things up reaaaaal good.  9/10
Rena Lanford: Only mage worth using from beginning to end.  9/10
Celine Jules: Has early game use.  5/10
Dias Flac: Decent enough fighter.  6/10
Ashton Anchors: Not great until late, yeah.  5/10
Opera Vectra: Meh @ on One hype.  Still decent enough. 6/10
Precis Neuman: BARRIERBARRIERBARRIERBARRIERBARRIER~.  7/10
Bowman Jean: Also not great until late.  5/10
Leon Geeste: Celine without the early game use.  1/10
Ernest Raviede: Garbage.  0.5/10
Noel Chandler: Noel.  0/10
Chisato Madison: Eh.  4/10

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:

Claude Kenni: 10/10. Not because he is perfect as much as he's clearly the game's best PC, and thus, he sets the curve.

Rena Lanford: 9/10. If the party shared XP KotOR style you would get benched once I had five characters and only get to come out for boss fights. Unfortunately you do not so I have to use you all the time to make sure your levels are up to snuff.

Celine Jules: 5/10. You are a mage in a real-time game, but I have to give you some credit for how useful you are early on.

Dias Flac: 6/10. You have two good KMs and that's all anyone needs. However, you have an awful regular attack that makes you terrible post-game.

Ashton Anchors: 8/10. Not good early on, then he gets Hurricane Slash, and two good KMs is really all you need. Plus Sword Dance for late-game, and then in post-game you just use regular attacks, and Ashton's normal attack is great.

Opera Vectra: 7/10. Pretty good, but becomes shit post-game just like every other fighter who doesn't use a sword or a fist weapon.

Precis Neuman: 5/10. Well, you let me replace Celine in my lineup, and you are generally very good at IC. On the downside I can't get Bowman.

Bowman Jean: 8/10. Poison Pill spam is pretty good. But post-game? Holy shit Weird Slayer makes you almost invincible.

Leon Geeste: 2/10. These two points are entirely for usually being the best IC character in the game.

Ernest Raviede: 1/10. The hell do I need to steal from you to get that armor that earned you your only point? You holding out on me, dickbag?

Noel Chandler: 0/10. There is so much fail here that the only way they could make him good in Blue Sphere was to take Rena out of the game and force you to use him.

Chisato Madison: 9/10. You would rank higher if I got to use you before what is basically end-game. But holy shit tear gas, and then holy shit Weird Slayer making you invincible.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni: 8/10. buh at the 10's. His early KMs are pretty underwhelming. But that's about all that is wrong with him. Wouldn't give him a 10 even if he started with Dias' Air Slash, though! Different philosophy in what a 10 is I guess.
Rena Lanford: 9/10. She could use more damage, but on the other hand what damage she has is fast and good at tying things up, whether it's her physical or her spells. The healing makes her invaluable anyway, I'd sooner sub out anyone else than her.
Celine Jules: 5/10. Been said. Falls off but good enough early.
Dias Flac: 7.5/10.
Ashton Anchors: 4/10.
Opera Vectra: 6/10. Yeah, Alpha on One is good.
Precis Neuman: 3/10. Unlike Alpha on One, I am not down with Barrier hype, since it needs IC nonsense instead of being gained automatically at a low level. Saves her from a godawful score but yeah.
Bowman Jean: 3/10. Probably biased against him for only experiencing him on higher difficulties where pillspam kinda fails. So it goes.
Leon Geeste: 2/10. Not much to say here. Shadow Flare is good enough when he first gets it to save him from being a 1.
Ernest Raviede: 1/10. But nothing says Ernest.
Noel Chandler: 3/10. I dunno. If you hate using Rena for some reason he is decent. Maybe. ... maybe.
Chisato Madison: 6/10. Found several of her techs solidly impressive.

[Lord Ephraim]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni: 9/10, best normal attack. Best overall selection of KMs and best defense.
Rena Lanford: 9/10 Healer in a game where healing items suck
Celine Jules: 2/10 Star Ocean mages
Dias Flac: 4/10 (7/10 in SO2r: better physical): Only has one good KM
Ashton Anchors: 7/10, starts off slow but generally becomes your second best attacker
Opera Vectra: 4/10 has one good KM
Precis Neuman: 4/10, meh I think should could tank well
Bowman Jean: 7/10 PILLS PILLS PILLS PILLS PILLS PILLS
Leon Geeste: 2/10 Star Ocean mages
Ernest Raviede: 0/10, just....wow
Noel Chandler: 0/10, garbage
Chisato Madison: 3/10, joins underleveled
(Welch Vineyard: 5/10, fills in nicely for Chisato and funnier to use)

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Claude Kenni: 8/10. The shaky beginning gets him a point off. Still, badass equips+solid IC powars+game-best KMs once he gets rolling (Ripper Blast is like Linga territory, and that's fucking badass)+strong stats get him -places-.
Rena Lanford: 9/10. Even in my "pester super to break the game into tiny, tiny pieces" playthrough, I found her skillset downright invaluable. She's not only the one mage worth using in SO2 throughout, she's the one mage you probably don't want to go without ever. Randoms are sufficiently dangerous offensively in SO2, let alone the bosses - the healing battery is a life saver, and the support doesn't hurt either.
Celine Jules: 5/10. Earlygame dominance wouldn't make her beyond a 4 for me... but her IC prowess is a key factor in breaking the game more or less from the get-go. 5 you have it.
Dias Flac: 7/10. Excellent KMs, excellent stats. The mults can be a bit problematic, though, but once he gets Illusion, that also starts fixing itself. The equips+stats keep him afloat nicely.
Ashton Anchors: 4/10. Eeeeeh. Shaky stats, the equips don't impress me as much... and he has trash for KMs until Hurricane Slash, which is disc 2. Leaf Slash is okay, but you also sacrifice Opera for him, and that... eeeeeeeegh.
Opera Vectra: 6.5/10. One point off for the lousy stats and weaponry, another point off for the shaky beginning (sure, she gets @ on One early, but you still have two dungeons or so of awesome FLAME LAUNCHERRR zomg). @ on One also isn't so badass as to entirely make her stat issues disappear, but she's good at what she does.
Precis Neuman: 5/10. Ally-Oop! is a loooooooooot of fun, and it's early. She also has pretty acceptable skills even though I never got Barrier - Bloody Mary, for instance, was nice enough. On the other hand, the amount of filler in the rest of the skillset is awful, and reliance on Machinery nonsense sucks too.
Bowman Jean: 4/10. His greater wallability and being even worse at reliably good skills than Precis (although better than Ashton) make me think worse of him.
Leon Geeste: 2/10. Eeeeeeeeeew, SO2 mage at the point where they start sucking.
Ernest Raviede: 2/10. I like Dimension Whip once it's levelled and Broken Heart. He still does nothing Precis or Bowman won't do better, though, and his recruitment requirements are downright byzantine.
Noel Chandler: 1/10. Go to hell. Shitty healer who has nowhere near the depth in relevant support/healing Rena does, joins obsolete from the get-go, has terrible equips -and- piss-poor AI.
Chisato Madison: 6/10. Actually not bad. Equips are so-so, but stats are solid and she gets surprisingly good KMs.

[OblivionKnight]

Claude Kenni: 8.3/10.  Claude is very good - Ripper Blast is like the best move in the entire damn game.  He has good defense, can get an early Battle Suit in his quest, and is overall great on equipment.  Also easy to break the game early...so he's awesome.  On the other hand, outside of Ripper Blast...none of his techs were great.  Mirror Slice sucks from my experience.  Ripper Blast could be his only move (which it is for all intents and purposes), and he'd still be like a 7.  The overall set-up is awesome, but early on he's not particularly standout.  Once he can get the Eternal Sphere and Ripper Blast...he's awesome.  Though can be replaced.
Rena Lanford: 8.8/10.  No Battle Suit?!  Fuck that - healing, her ultimate weapon is plot gained and excellent (1/2 MP), and she works wonders as a delayer (weak, fast, MT spell to interrupt foes).  Her equipment is ok, at least.  Items can replace her, but she's still excellent.  Could be better in terms of offense, and wishes her equipment draw was better, but her magic is great enough to get her here.
Celine Jules: 5.6/10.  Like Rena for the interrupting factor, she's great, especially early.  And can deal some damage there.  Too bad...her support spells are generally not as helpful as Rena's, though somewhat unique.  She's not bad by any means, but feels worse than Rena/Noel for what they do.
Dias Flac: 6.8/10.  His Air Slash kicks all kinds of ass.  Sadly...man, that's a lot of his worth, that and good offense from his weapons.  Getting him means missing out on Leon, as well as a Battle Suit.  And he has no crowd control.  Equipment draw is at least good, but misses on a few things.  Not bad at all.
Ashton Anchors: 7.1/10.  Better than Dias.  Crowd Control, neat equipment.  Feels like he has more good techs than Dias by far - no Ripper Blast here, but Hurricane Slash, Leaf Slash are good.  
Opera Vectra: 8.4/10.  Ok, so if you can get over the crazy item creation stuff, she's...a great character, possibly game-best.  Machinery I've found kind of annoying, unfortunately, and Healing Star is worth a lot for her.  Otherwise...Alpha on One is great.  She does lose a bit on offense, sadly, but using her as a sub-in healer or supporter is great.  Misses on the support skills of Rena, which sucks...but the healing is great and fast otherwise.
Precis Neuman: 6.6/10.  She has crowd control...but man, she needs machinery for that.  And you miss out on Bowman with her.  She's very good, but unlike Opera, who can get by without item creation, she can't as well.  And the voice is horrible >_>
Bowman Jean: 7.3/10.  Pills are badass.  He's also got really good weapons, and some of his other attacks are nice too.  Overall good, and better than Precis without machinery, I think.
Leon Geeste: 6.5/10.  Support spells are good, and his offense is a bit better than Celine's, particularly because of the less often resisted elements.  His weapons are cool too - MP reduction, elemental changes, etc.  Can work as a fighter too, which only Rena can really contest with him for.
Ernest Raviede: 5.2/10.  Has...one or two good techs.  And you get Battle Suits from him (stand out less at this point in time, though).  The most missable character, and his weapons...could really be better, though they aren't horrible.  
Noel Chandler: 6.1/10.  Not as many support spells as Rena, and Foehn is not as good as Star Flare/Light Cross.  His physical sucks too.  On the other hand...if you want a full Bloody Armour team with healing, he's the guy.  He kind of can replace Rena...except you miss the support spells, and the half MP weapon, making him worse overall.  He's still decent, but clearly the worst healer here.
Chisato Madison: 7.1/10.  Has Precis' equipment but doesn't screw you out of Bowman.  Is surprisingly good, and the weapons you get in the CoT actually fit her nicely (Weird Slayer).  Has some crowd control too, and fast attacks.  She's really good, but can be missed, and is late.  

[Tonfa]

Claude Kenni: 9. Dreadfully boring but good.
Rena Lanford: 9. If you take her out you're creating a challenge game, with two exceptions.
Celine Jules: 4. Jeigan, yes.
Dias Flac: 5. I've always been unimpressed by his moveset.
Ashton Anchors: 7. Has some earlygame issues.
Opera Vectra: 8. The only character who can realistically take up Rena's healing position, AND a decent fighter.
Precis Neuman: 4. Meeeeeeeeh.
Bowman Jean: 7. Spotty fighter at parts, but generally carries his weight.
Leon Geeste: 1. You suck.
Ernest Raviede: 2. You suck but you are not a mage.
Noel Chandler: 2. Quad Bloody Armor being literally an invincible setup is enough to get him this score I suppose.
Chisato Madison: 6. More impressive than Dias, less impressive than any of my regular picks, so here she goes.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Claude Kenni: 8.5 Really really good. Fighters rock in SO2, and Claude's the best, but... he is replaceable due to the number of fighters in the game. Still, gets a great score for being unmissable and permanent from the beginning.
Rena Lanford: 9.5 Best Healer in a game that kinda needs it. Later on, she's less necessary, especially if you've chosen a fast team of fighters that just kill things before they move.
Celine Jules: 4. Jeigan, yes.
Dias Flac: 5. He's good, theoretically a decent Claude replacement, but you have to play Rena's story to get him and thanks to the translation, that's clearly the inferior path. Loses major points for this. Also, comes in permanently kinda late.
Ashton Anchors: 7.5. Not amazing at first, but catches up to Claude quickly in a game where Fighters are amazing. Having a second fighter as early as you get Ashton is great, and he stays good. Only problem is that you can't get Opera too.
Opera Vectra: 7.5. Not great for damage, but I like ranged fighters and she's a suitable healer replacement if you just can't stand Rena. Only problem is that you can't get Ashton too. Oh, and her recruitment is a little tedious.
Precis Neuman: 5. She's alright. But why take her over Bowman?
Bowman Jean: 8. Breakin' the game with P-P-P-Poison Pills! And awesome equips.
Leon Geeste: 2. Saved from being a 1 because his stat downs aren't bad, but he really needed Healing too if he was gonna replace my one mage.
Ernest Raviede: 1.5. Late, crappy fighter, you didn't get Ashton, has nothing going for him. He's... usable in that every SO2 Fighter is useable, but why? I suppose if you skipped Ashton, Dias, -and- Bowman, you might have some use for him in a Claude/Precis/Opera team. Maybe. 1.5 works.
Noel Chandler: 2. Has some theoretical use, but the AI makes him end up even worse than Leon, really. If you're good at micromanagement in ARPGs, his healing/magic combo isn't bad for what uses magic has in SO2, but Rena/Celine/Opera are just better all around.
Chisato Madison: 6. Late joiner, so not as useful as Ashton/Claude/Bowman, generally did better than Precis, and I didn't have to give up Bowman for her. Great if you want a 4-person fighter team and don't want to play Rena's horrible chapter. Really shines in aftergame stuff, which, considering when you get her, seems like the intended use.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I don't really see how which path you prefer for plot should be especially relevant for in-game use score. Quite apart from the fact that SO2 plot sucks either way, to me it only makes sense to consider characters on playthroughs when they are available.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Claude Kenni: 7.5/10
Rena Lanford: 9/10
Celine Jules: 2/10
Dias Flac: 7/10
Ashton Anchors: 5/10
Opera Vectra: ---
Precis Neuman: ---
Bowman Jean: 5/10
Leon Geeste: ---
Ernest Raviede: ---
Noel Chandler: 1/10
Chisato Madison: ---

[Grefter]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni: 7/10 He is good but entirely replaceable and when you pretty much have to use him he is far from crash hot.  ie, he can be replaced by Opera or Ashton and you don't lose much.  Strong postgame presence of course gets him a point.
Rena Lanford: 10/10  You can replace her, there is so very little reason to do so.  The only situations where replacing her is really viable involve twinking or powergaming (see Noel with Bloody Armour which is 80% of the way into the game and just plain not needed or Opera with obscure pain in the arse to get rare IC item).  This is about ingame use and in game you want to use Rena, the game hands her to you and she never stops being worth your time.  This people is the essence of 10/10.  Kicks the shit out of Citan for in game use for a benchmark.
Celine Jules: 4/10 She is a warm body early on and when she is a warm body she is still a useful one.
Dias Flac: 8/10 There for 60% or so of the game and is amazingly strong from start to finish, has 2 of his 3 best moves from the beginning.  Absolutely unequivocally completely and totally worth using, worth being your choice for who you twink for powergaming in the regular game and holds his own at the end game even with his powergaming potential flaws thanks purely to his equipment draw.
Ashton Anchors: 6/10 Availability is good, fighter, worse longterm than Claude but if you pick him up you probably should be using him.  Better gear pool than the other non-Claude/Dias fighters.
Opera Vectra: 6/10 I don't give her healing any points, to obscure, to much work to build up to be usable when Rena has good healing forever and always and from the start of the game and what the fuck is wrong with you people creditting rare postgame shit for in game use.  Worse draw in stuff than Ashton, but better moveset, but an expensive one.  They are really a good traded pair.
Precis Neuman: 4/10 Gotten at the point you don't need warm bodies anymore, is alright.  Yes I am serious she is roughly the same net worth as Celine.  They are just warm bodies
Bowman Jean: 5/10  Better warm body than Precis, but not by overly much.  Needs to be controlled to be good and there is better choices for controlling and SO2 doesn't have multiplayer.  So Bowman can suck it.
Leon Geeste:0/10  Horrible.  Waste of time and space.
Ernest Raviede: 2/10 A point for each Battle Suit I guess?  Nah not really.  Half a point for both, obscure, but very gettable and broken when you do.  He is worth 1.5 points as a warm body, he is usable, but there isn't a reason to really do so.
Noel Chandler: 0.5/10 He gets half a point because he is better than Leon
Chisato Madison: 3/10 A late game slightly worse Bowman?  Go her?  She is usable, more so than Ernest, but fuck you get her so late, how can you stand levelling KMs that late game?  Sure I have used her, but that is because I have played SO2 more times than I care to admit, she just really isn't worth using in game.

[Excal]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni: 7.5  Strong techs, always available, just all around solid and best of the fighters.  Though, still replacable.
Rena Lanford: 9  Not broken, but still irreplacable.
Celine Jules:  4.5  Still found her mostly just a warm body even at the start.
Dias Flac:  7  Not as strong as Claude, but still second best.
Ashton Anchors:  4  Not so good, and docked a point for not being that easy to get.
Opera Vectra:  6  Almost as good as Dias, but still easily missable.
Precis Neuman:  3 
Bowman Jean:  2
Leon Geeste:  .5
Ernest Raviede:  1
Noel Chandler:  .5
Chisato Madison:  5  Useful, but comes so very late.

[Dhyerwolf]

Claude Kenni: 8/10. Great attacker, generally setting the curve for damage from near beginning to near the end. Ripper Blast is stupid.
Rena Lanford: 9/10. Awesome niche that hards to replace
Celine Jules: 4/10. Sure, warm body for stretch works well.
Dias Flac: 5/10. Less impressed than most. Yeah, his techs are fast, but I think they are tending to be a lot of 1xs. He needs both Illusion and Crimson Diablos to get that damage up there.
Ashton Anchors: 6.5. On the other hand, he has some faster techs that are more damaging and feel like they cover ground better.
Opera Vectra: 7
Precis Neuman: 2.5. Uhh....usuable. I guess.
Bowman Jean: 2.5
Leon Geeste: 1. This Point is Solely for Growth
Ernest Raviede: 5. Favorite spammer PC for me. Distance move+easily spammable+good at breaking guard (In...want to call it Bloody Thorns. Too lazy to look it up).
Noel Chandler: 1. Solely for Quad Bloody Armor (Although...Opera can equip that too)
Chisato Madison: 5. Decent. Actually in a theoretical party I'd want to use when I have everyone(So has that above Precis or Bowman).

[Meeplelard]

Claude Kenni: 8/10.  He's pretty damn good when he gets going.  The problem?  The early game stuff fails to impress.  Good basic physical, but that's really all he has, his version of Air Slash is pretty blech, Shooting stars sucks, and Head Splitter I remember being a little too pricey to make proper use of early game.  He's never BAD, but he certainly felt a bit lacking early on.
Rena Lanford: 9/10. Only reason to not use her is if you're a masochist, doing a challenge, or have some team build that can get away without using her, which is hard to find.
Celine Jules: 5/10.  Powerhouse early on, pretty crappy later.
Dias Flac: 7.5/10.  Air Slash is really all he needs and he can last the entire game cause of how spammable it is.  His other moves aren't stellar, but he has a few useful ones, overall worse than Claude though.
Ashton Anchors: 6/10.  Has a few good moves like Hurricane Slash and what not, but has similar issues to Claude with less pay offs and takes longer to get going.
Opera Vectra: 7/10.  @ on One is most of her worth, Healing Star is bonus points.
Precis Neuman: 5/10. Averagish.
Bowman Jean: 5/10.  Felt significantly worse than other fighters.
Leon Geeste: 3/10.  Celine without the the early game power.
Ernest Raviede: 3/10.  Honestly felt completely useless, unsure if I'm willing to give him credit for Battle Suits.
Noel Chandler: 1.5/10.  Gets half a point cause of that Noel Bloody Armor strategy which actually WORKS, the issue is, outside of that strategy, he's completely useless.
Chisato Madison: 4/10. Joins late and she never felt particularly good.

Also, a few things to note:
-Ignoring Plot is something that's strongly urged in this topic, unless its something related to gameplay.  For example, if provoking this extra plot scene gets you an extra skill or something and only one PC can do this, that's something you can debate for "In Game Use" (an SO2 example shown sort of shown in this topic could be argued as Ernest's Battle Suits.  While not a use in battle, it IS a use of recruiting him, thus debatable whether he should get creds.)  Just simply going "Works better in plot!" is more a taste thing, and belongs in a general character ratings, NOT a topic based entirely on gameplay.
-When I vote, that's usually a good indicator that this session will wrap up relatively soon, just cause of how I work!  I tend to wait a little while before voting.  Don't worry, its not IMMEDIATE, but think of my voting as "WARNING! Session closes soonish, GET VOTES IN!" style post.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I don't really see how which path you prefer for plot should be especially relevant for in-game use score. Quite apart from the fact that SO2 plot sucks either way, to me it only makes sense to consider characters on playthroughs when they are available.

I said translation, not plot. Honestly, the parts in Rena's path that differed from Claude's (and a few that didn't, but should have due to Rena being the main... >.>;;) were all horribly jumbled and I remember having difficulty figuring out what I was supposed to be doing or where I was intended to go. It really made Rena's path unplayable to me.

[Meeplelard]

Star Ocean: 2nd Story:
Claude Kenni: 8.63
Rena Lanford: 8.75
Celine Jules: 4.48
Dias Flac: 6.77
Ashton Anchors: 5.91
Opera Vectra: 6.75
Precis Neuman: 5.38
Bowman Jean: 5.47
Leon Geeste: 1.85
Ernest Raviede: 2.06
Noel Chandler: 1.55
Chisato Madison: 5.46

Best Rating of this session: Rena at 8.75
Worst Rating of this session: Noel at 1.55

Top/Bottom lists will come at a later point...when we have an actual number of casts rated and thus make the list actually interesting!

Also, before we move on, wanna make note of two things; this may or may not have already happened in this topic, more just something I forgot:
-If you're rating someone as "0.5" PLEASE type it in as that.  Typing it in as ".5" is easy to misread as "5" so for the sake of easy to readness, just type it in as "0.5"
-If you're abstaining on someone, do NOT take them off the list.  Either leave them blank, put dashes where the ratings/comments go, outright say "Abstain" or what have you.  It makes counting easier, since I can see whose abstaining outright, rather than have to check the people who have shortened lists; this came up actually a number of times in the older topic, and I won't mention whose the culprit <_<

We'll start off now doing two games! If you can't vote on an ENTIRE GAME, you can remove it from your list, I won't mind that! Its mostly just people removing specific characters from a game and rating everyone else that screws everything up (it makes sense if you see how I can this stuff.)  ANYWAY, the two games we're dealing with are...

Wild ARMs:
Rudy Roughknight:
Jack Van Burace:
Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde:

Disgaea ("Plot" PCs):
Laharl:
Etna:
Prinny:
Flonne:
Hoggmeiser:
Maderas:
Gordon:
Jennifer:
Thursday:
Kurtis:


NOTE ABOUT WILD ARMS:  This is specifically Wild ARMs 1, *NOT* Alter Code F; ACF, while a remake of WA1, is a significantly different game in many ways, and thus, not fair to rate characters the same.  So rate only if you've played WA1, and ONLY based on THOSE forms.
NATURALLY, Disgaea PCs should be rated entirely on their Disgaea 1 forms (I don't think the remakes changed anything specific offhand?)  So none of this "Laharl is awesome in Phantom Brave!" nonsene or whatever (random example pulled out of my ass.)
NOTE 2: I'm aware Prinny isn't a Plot PC, but damn it, ITS A FREAKING PRINNY.  Basically, it was put on due to popular demand <_<