Character anaylsis, now that I have beaten the game:
Lux - If you liked him in 7th saga, (and I did), he is even better in Mystic ark. I used him a lot, and for the last battle. Strap on some healing shoes, to allow him to heal with every step and use "Full Atomic" to decimate all enemies on screen. This guys is a tank who is one of the strongest in the game with probably, one of the best defenses in the game, high HP and even some MP to boot, not that I used his spells. Lux + healing shoes + Full atomic ad nausea = amazing. The healing shoes supply an endless amount of full atomics. Good for basically all random battles as full atomic/atomic never seemed to miss, Lux never seems to get stoned (haha) but I sometimes take him out for the bosses when multi target it not needed (except for knights)
Kamiwoo - Jack of all trades, but with lower than average physical and magic defense who does not shine until late in the game when you (hopefully) stumble across his axe in fairy land. All of a sudden, Kamiwoo surges ahead of other characters, with flurry + strongest axe in the game, he is stronger than Lux's full atomic and can wreck entire groups of enemies with ease.
Tokio - Thought he was terrible at first, like Kamiwoo, but this Jack of all trades grows on you and once you get illusion strike, can prove a valuable asset if Lux/Kamiwoo/Reeshine are down on HP and/or MP or die. Better for bosses and large (mammoth) enemies than 95% of random encounters, where he can two hit one target, instead of two random strikes against many random enemies. Just be sure to power him up. Defense not as good as Lux, but I found with two hits, he did more total damage as long as there was only on total enemy on screen.
Reeshine - Amazing offense and sometimes almost single handidly took down some of the bosses, if it were not for her poor speed, making her miss a lot on her kicks. But if her kicks connect, watch out! Average defense, somewhere between Kamiwoo (but higher) and Tokio (bit slightly lower) and so-so HP totals. If you have some speed buffs and power buffs and want to risk it she is better than Lux for pure power as long as she connects with kick! I used her a lot. For the risky player.
Meisa - Aside from some healing duties and buffs for a few specific boss battles, she did not serve too much use to me. I find magic to be weaker in Enix games than most other rpgs. She does provide some resting for the more active party members. Use "Holy emblem" for 5-10 battles which does pretty good damage, heal outside of battle when needed and switch her out for someone else once her mp reaches 0. (In other words, free mp and attack magic as you trudge through long dungeons). Used to conserve energy for your better attackers.
Meirsa - Attack mage, but I found her to be the most useless in my playthrough. She basically is just used to preserve my other more useful characters for 5-10 battles. Use up her mp on the few decent attack spells she has and switch her out once her mp is zero. Use the more useful characters who will have ful mp and hp when they are switched in.
Main hero - Pretty good speed, good hp and suprising mp though most spells are not so useful. Mid game healing is needed, as well as "power" His power strike seems to hit 90-95% of the time for good damage (but less than Kamiwoo, IF he/she has his/her best axe or Tokio multiple strike. Sort of a Jack of all trades that does some things below average and some above average which = average. Other games have forced you to use worse characters, so, not too bad, manageable and useful in many respects, even. Flurry is useful late game combined with Lux's full atomic (and shoes) and Kamiwoos flurry (again as long as you got the axe) to beat most enemies up in one round, 2 tops.
I did not find the two mages useful very much. Lux and Reeshine are ultra strong at first and kind of taper off towards the end but I still love lux and Tokio. Kamiwoo came on strong at the end, moving from below average to above average if you get them the right stuff.
Final party, for final boss
(call me crazy, it was basically purely offensive attacks)
Lux - Full atomic, heal mp when needed Hero - Power buffs x2, at least, for everyone, full heal when needed. A few risky power slashes (or whatever they are called) which proved to be good risks! Reeshine - Kick kick kick, and when it connected, which it luckily did on the final boss quite a lot, it can hurt him nicely! Once or twice took time to heal mp or hp.
7th sage I was like this too, pure offense just pushed my way through, with Lux and Olvan. 90 % + of the time it is pure offense for me in this game too.
Woulda liked to see how Tokio, with powered up Illusion strike does, or how Kamiwoos (power buffed) axe stacks up, but oh well. Maybe someone else can tell.
Two mages, just did not need them. Good filler for long dungeons, that is all.
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