GamingFiend

58 minutes ago, longers2 said:

You'll need to learn about defending for this game. Most bosses have a pretty obvious tell when you're gonna have to use defend with your whole team

I tried defending this but failed. Any hints on the timing? I want to get past this boss and continue with the game. I have it save stated right before the arrow rain so I can keep attempting it

How are you supposed to survive this? Content mode here. I am stuck at this boss can't get past it

14 hours ago, raics said:

It's a fairly common question, the two things to look out for is Lanselot having golden armor at the start of the game and the other is being able to buy 1h/2h katana in shops, that means two main files patched correctly.

On 10/25/2017 at 0:17 PM, coffee potato said:

Sweet! Thank You for all the dedication to this thing man!

So random curiosity. Did You come across any signs that they had put in the damage carryover feature from the original for longer siege fights?

Thank you so much, I did indeed patch it correctly. Much easier than I expected. Can't wait to try it. I played the original a little bit and I remember getting the Terror Knight and becoming frustrating with him being so weak and quit playing. 

Dumb question, I have not played the original and have no idea if I patched it correctly, I followed the readme instructions. How do I know if I am playing the patched version of the game at the start?

21 hours ago, BTB said:

Yeah, I dropped the idea of the Lazy Shell being a mass prevention tool for everyone.

On the other hand, setting it to "dark" damage means that the Ghost Ring is a prevention relic that anyone can use. If you're going to go gimmick, go big or go home.

Any chance on the addition or replacement of a spell? Through testing I found that the Warp Whistle retains its effect without the Warp Spell being present in the spell list (both in and outside of battle), so the Warp Spell is unnecessary and can be reworked into something else. I posted a couple of ideas in the Experimental magic build thread for possible Stamina options for Relm and Edgar since atm their Stamina builds are more gimmicky than useful, at least in 1.9.

18 hours ago, Mishrak said:

Fwiw Relm/Strago are getting a new stam attack in 1.10.

I saw that actually! A weapon proc spell I believe?

Same one used on the Behemoths for Meteo

So I was messing around with FF3UsMe with BNW mostly to figure out what the mystery egg did and experimented with some magic edits. Specifically, I removed some redundant spells to make room for new spells.

Warp: I discovered that the Warp Whistle works independently of this Spell's existence in the spell list, and as such the spell Warp isn't really needed as long as you have a few warp whistles on stand by. 1 Spell slot freed.

Slow and Scan: I combined these 2 spells together into a spell called "Slocan" that both slows and scans the enemy. Might be annoying for random encounters but honestly, who uses "Slow" on random encounters? If slow misses, the scan effect still works!

The new spells I created with the freed up slots were:

Comet: A STAMINA Non-Elemental Magic spell on Bahamut that hits 4x like Cyan's Tempest meant to give Stamina Relm some MUCH needed offense. The specs I chose were 60 MP and 20 base power ( which is 4 individual attacks at 20 BP) Defense Ignoring.

Aero: Stamina Based Wind spell on Palidor for Mog and Edgar, acting as a Offensive option for Stamina Edgar and an Upgrade to Break for Mog

Still sorting out what the 3rd additional spell may be, or just keeping SlowX in the game. Been playing through the game for the 2nd time using Stam Edgar and Stam Relm with these edits and I must say it has been a lot more fun!

On 8/17/2018 at 2:42 PM, BTB said:

ROM expansion isn't necessarily the magic bullet that everyone thinks it is. Practically speaking, the primary tool used to accomplish it only creates more space in the enemy AI bank (which I presently just freed up 500 bytes and counting from in script rewrites) and the dialogue bank. I have refused to expand the ROM needlessly because I'm a firm believer in that restrictions breed creativity and I can assure you that a lot of what's currently in Brave New World would never have been thought up if infinite free space gave me carte blanche to shit up the AI bank with anything I wanted.

If that's all it does then how is FF6 T edition possible? That mod has many more additions than just enemy AI bank

On 5/8/2018 at 9:45 PM, thzfunnymzn said:

Something my OCD wishes to point out is that most stamina builds do have a stamina-based attack / heal that they rely upon or were critical to said builds being accepted as "good" builds. Terra, Locke, Sabin, Cyan, Gau, Mog, Setzer, they all fall in this category. Even Phantom Celes sorta hits on this with Cover/Counter (arguably Shadow too). Strago's lack of any specific use for stamina is perhaps a or even the major reason for why there's a noticeable portion of the players who hold little respect for said build, myself included. It's also part of why I think Mishrak is crazy for hyping up Crusader Celes so much when he could just play Siren Celes. (Relm's a weird case; she has a stamina-based heal, but the overlap with existing builds is strong, thereby devaluing her stam build severely).

So it's not a surprise that people are asking for stamina-based damage to improve stam Edgar, since we still haven't wholly moved away from that solution to stamina builds, not even with some of our most recent stuff (Terra, Locke, Celes, Setzer).

Celes does have a Stamina Attack too with her special hidden relic. I don't see the uniqueness issue, as it's kind of ubiquitous. Only Relm, Strago, Locke and Edgar don't have one. Locke and Edgar can through Omega Weapon. Relm has Regen X but a massive burst heal from that isn't a big deal considering she can burst heal with Cure 3 in a Magic Build. It's a bit hard to justify the use of Stamina Relm and when I did my Tier List on this page. Strago has Odin Summon, which is MP intensive but viable with heavy carbuncle investment, and gives him a 1 turn burst damage during a boss fight.

http://ngplus.net/index.php?/forums/topic/53-whos-your-mvp/&page=2

This Tier list was for 1.8, and the new stamina additions likely affect it. Unicorn Edgar probably jumps up to C Tier, but because the Cover mechanic is anti-synergistic with Stamina it's very limited. I could see him being a respectable team member if holding Omega Weapon and Nirvana Band so that his heals and damage output can at least be effective enough to not feel like a wasted turn.

Stamina Relm is frankly not tanky enough for the Counter mechanic to be useful and as I said earlier the stronger Regen X is irrelevant because Cure 3 exists for Burst heal. The trade off for Mag+ which is so powerful on her with Flare/Meteor/Osmose is too much. Next to Umaro, she is easily the worst character/build in my opinion, Umaro might actually be better. You could I suppose use Stamina Relm in the capacity of Regen X healer but even with high stamina her HP is so low that she can die easily. I struggle to see the upside. Even with Intercepter it's very underwhelming, and losing Shadow for that purpose is just plain silly.

Tier List Synopsis:

A Tier

A+ : Stamina Terra

A: Phoenix Locke

A-: Maduin Terra, Kirin Locke, Magic Edgar, Magic Celes, Magic Setzer

B Tier

B+: Vigor Edgar, Terrato Sabin, Crusader Celes, Vigor Cyan, Shadow, Gogo (infinite versatlity poor stats), Zoneseek Relm, Magic Strago, Stamina Setzer, Magic Mog

B: Vigor Locke, Vigor Celes, Maduin Mog, Vigor Mog, Speed Relm

B-: Bismarck Terra, Golem Sabin, Speed Gau

C Tier

C+: Stamina Cyan (late game), Stamina Gau (late game)

C: Stamina Strago

C-:  Stamina Sabin

D Tier

 D+:Unicorn Edgar

 D:Stamina Relm

 D-: Umaro (Uncontrollable almost no utility)

17 hours ago, BTB said:

Edgar already has a stamina-based weapon; making it behave correctly with Jump is backburner'ed wishlist item.

If you had your heart set on unicorn Edgar Omega Weapon is a good idea.

what about a Stamina Based Bio Blaster? Basically a weaker and slower Flash? That would help his atrocious offense option. He can rely on Remedy and Unicorn Summpn for healing

1 hour ago, A Dummy said:

Would it work to just give the Gungnir +7 Stamina to give Edgar some more Stamina, or would Mog gain too much benefit from that as well?

edit: Just taking this idea a little further, what are the thoughts on giving all spears some amount of Stamina?
Like +2 to the Mythril Pike, +3 to the ele spears (Trident, Fire Lance, Longinus) +5 to the non-ele spears (Stout Spear, Partisan) and +7 to the Gungnir as I already mentioned above.
Would this help defensive spear set-ups without being too much of a buff to Dragooning, or would this end up more under the territory of buffing something "just because" and not really serve any purpose?

Better solution would be to make a spear that is Stamina damage based like Atma/Omega weapon

1 hour ago, thzfunnymzn said:

Tbf GamingFiend, the only characters seriously using MP at this point in the game are Terra and Celes. Fire and Ice are virtually identical in terms of MP and Spell Power. Bigger issue is that Ice has few uses in the early game (seems that Brawlers were meant to be susceptible to Ice, but Rock counterattacks + poison strats means that'll never happen). Celes has the MP for Bolt in the IMF, it's just never had much of a niche even in the IMF all throughout BNW's life, and, well, now, Celes has the Morning Star instead.

Terra I suspect is best off picking one or the other of Cover or Counter. Certainly a more bulky healer build (HP, MP, some mag) would prefer Cover for also defending allies. Vig Terra lacks stamina and should not, under any circumstances, try to combine Morph with Cover. C/C Apocalypse Terra without Morph isn't a bad idea and does make use of all of the Hero's Ring bonuses; though with low stamina and missing the Power Glove, eh. A Morph Omega build could, but I'm not sure how nicely Morph or Omega plays with the increased damage Terra will take. Then again, I'm always surprised with how absurd Morph Omega is, so maybe Terra can c/c better than I thought.

My Unicorn Edgar was played in NHT, so it's not the best representative of Unicorn Edgar balance. That said, he still performed admirably in the WoB, so it's clearly a fine build early on. I just have my doubts on how well he'll scale into the WoR. Worried that he'll become too much of a one-trick pony without speed. And while he ought to be given at least some Siren or Palidor, I'm not sure how well "Unicorn Cover Edgar" synergizes with either mag Support Edgar (moar speed, Force equips, back row) or Palidor (Unicorn + Palidor seems like a worse version of Golem + Palidor). At least Unicorn Edgar can technically claim something for its own now.

I don't trust Sabin defenses to hold up while also Covering allies. Even Terrato Sabin loses HP for using Mantra if he Covers, though he's the only Sabin build who can even think about Covering without eating dirt.

True, to be fair Locke will have to choose between Bolt and Fire too, and may use it fairly regularly if going for a Phoenix build of him

Unicorn Edgar is odd and mostly compares to Golem Edgar. For simplicity sake, compare a pure 20 EL Golem Edgar to a pure 20 EL Unicorn Edgar. The Golem Edgar sacrifices 200 HP and 20 Stamina in exchange for 20 Vigor, which gives Edgar a marginal defense boost and a considerably higher offensive presence with Jump and physical tools. The 20 Stamina granted by Unicorn does not benefit any of Edgar's tools or his healing capabilities with magic, thus his offense and Cure 2 are at an all time low. The main benefit is he will have tremendous staying power, particularly since unlike Cyan and Sabin he can equip shields and has a better armor selection. But Cyan and Sabin offer superior options that Stamina can fuel, Cyan with Dragon and Eclipse and Sabin with Mantra and Chakra. A Unicorn Edgar just feels like a tank with no cannon. He can give good ST heals with Remedy and a one time MT heal with Unicorn but that's as far as Stamina will benefit his skill set. Counter/Cover has poor synergy with Jump, since Edgar cannot C/C if he is in the air jumping most of the time, so you will probably want him in the front row using Chainsaw/Drill during bosses, trying to benefit from his C/C and counting on him being alive to Defibrillate downed members and heal/purge with Remedy. It's the poor synergy with Stamina that makes it feels like a niche for Edgar when compared to Cyan and Sabin especially.

13 hours ago, praetarius5018 said:

That's the MP economy, but you can also look at the turn economy and risks;
just imagine that Fire barely does not kill the target and Ice just barely does.
Then you'd need 2x Fire or Fire + anything else, using more turns and MP, maybe even risking eating a counter attack.

And I guess the deal gets better at the higher tiers.
Fire -> Ice is +50% MP cost
Fire2/3 -> Ice2/3 only +25%
while damage ratio stays the same (+1/9)

I doubt players are sitting there with a pen and paper and looking at the enemy HP stats and calulating the damage of Fire vs Bolt on Locke deciding which one to use, especially when the random factor to damage

Here's something that always perplexed me. Why are Ice and Bolt so much more expensive than Fire to cast? Fire costs 4 and Bolt costs 8, but the power is 27 versus 33. It doesn't seem to make much sense economically to use Bolt over Fire unless you're hitting a weakness?

Your ideas for the Espers are especially intriguing!

19 hours ago, thzfunnymzn said:

...OK, now that I really look at Terrato Sabin, yeah, he should be mentioned in the guide. Thing is, where? I could mention him as his own build (20 Terrato), as a variant on support Sabin (15 Terrato / 5 Stray), or as a variant on vig Sabin (10 Golem / 10 Terrato). Kinda leaning towards mentioning him as a variant on support Sabin; so, support Sabin would be either heavy Stray (pure Chakra), or heavy Terrato.

Thoughts, anyone? Especially those like @GamingFiend who have played Terrato Sabin?

In my personal opinion I'd go with it's own build, because Stray Sabin probably wants some Terrato levels anyway because of the synergy with the regen ticks and Golem Summons. Terrato is designed to maximize Golem summons while maintain a lot of Stamina's benefits (high regen ticks due to extremely high natural HP, and massive Mantra Heals). It also maximizes his survivability in the front row, and because Sabin doesn't have a shield and generally lower defense equipment, having the massive HP is really helpful, because he will take 1,000+ damage from powerful boss hits. Because his Vigor is quite high naturally, he can still hit very hard too! Focusing exclusively on Golem levels will lead to higher damage but I feel Sabin's damage will never be as high as the top damage dealers so it's better to focus on his tanking and support potential in general.

Just spitballing an idea here, but perhaps instead of linking class bonuses to ELs in a particular Esper, it could be done simply by their regular level and be a Talent, taking a page from the Dota 2 Handbook. Here's an example for "Medusa" in Dota 2.

For example, a Celes tree could appear as

Level 10: Vigor+5 or Magic +5

Level 15: White/Grey Magic cast rate up or Black Magic cast rate up

Level 20: Runic ignores party/auto-counter with Runic or ??? damage up 20%

Level 25: Magic Damage + 25% or No Dual Wield Penalty + Crit Chance up

Coincidently, the Dota 2 levels fit nicely into BNW as well since unless you're striving for a low level game most players will hit Level 25 before Kefka Tower. So the general trend would then be:

Level 10: + 5 boost to a main stat choice (Vigor Magic Speed or Stamina)

Level 15: Spell or ability cast rate boost up choice

Level 20: A choice between 2 buffs affecting that character's special action

Level 25: A significant boost to the character's damage/healing or tanking potential (possibly another ability buff too)

9 hours ago, BTB said:

Very interesting take on things! Thanks for taking the time to write this all up.

I'd say that there's a pretty clear pattern where you favor magic damage and lack interest in stamina, which is a fairly common outlook. To address a few specific concerns, Aurabolt is getting a damage boost in 1.9 and Relm will pick up Life. Aside from that, the defensive benefits of stamina tend to be a bit more on the... invisible side. Sabin and Strago in particular are able to hit stamina levels high enough to act as a permanent built-in Shell and they will be virtually immune to status ailments - which is a bit more notable now since there's only one Ribbon left in the game. Strago really needs this since, as you mention, he lacks an ability that directly synergizes with stamina. Rather, the point of a stamina build with him is to run him as pure support (which he is more than capable of doing) rather than as a nuker.

1.9 also focuses heavily on the use of stamina for covering and countering, so purely tanky builds like Kirin Cyan and Unicorn Edgar (the latter of which was never really considered to be a significant build in development) will benefit from it.

Generally I did rank Stamina lower I noticed too, although I felt Stamina builds for Terra and Locke in particular were top notch. I am a bit speculative about going pure Stam +2 over Hp+30/ Stam +1 a lot of times simply because Stamina goes so well with HP, and how effective really is magic defense and massive regen ticks without a big hp pool to back it up? I certainly find that Strago would be incredible if Odin was a Hp/Stam and in Sabin case if you mix in Terrato Levels he can already do that anyway. I'm glad Aurabolt will be stronger that is certainly going to help his cause

23 minutes ago, thzfunnymzn said:

Aaaaaaaaaaand......someone opened the can of worms that is tier lists in this mod. Sigh. I've certainly given such an idea thought in the past, but refrained myself from talking about it.

Guess I've got something to keep my busy for the next week or so.

Looking over it quickly, in terms purely of endgame, I can't say I wholly disagree. I do disagree with only factoring in the endgame into a tier list. Really undersells the value of Kirin Cyan, vig Sabin, etc. Still, need to sit down with this one.

You could make a whole separate one for WoB possibly!

I made my own personal analysis below, a tier list of sorts. It's hard to break individual characters into a tier because of how many different builds they have. For the sake of this analysis I'll be looking at end-game builds (So the fact Stray Gau and Kirin Cyan are incredible in WoB doesn't factor into the ranking) and not considering Hybrid builds, just the more extreme focused builds. This is also for 1.86, many builds that are low on here may get a significant boost in 1.9. It's also only my opinion, and I may not realize the full potential of certain builds I ranked as lower.

Terra: 

Maduin (Magic) Build-(A-) Mostly Maduin with some Carbuncle for MP makes for an incredible potent mage who can reliably hit 9999 cap from backrow, and since Magic and MP are linked to Stamina being in Morphed form isn't as detrimental as it might seem. Really capitalizes on Terra' offensive and restorative strengths and superior regen ticks

Bismarck (Vigor) Build (B-)- The ultimate glass cannon, astonishingly squishy in morphed form and requires a LOT of support to stay alive but is capable of dishing out arguable the best damage in the game. Does not make the best use of one of Terra' best assests, her incredible spell list. The frailty of the build prevents this from being any higher in my eyes. No Stamina focus which is so paramount to Morph and her regen ticks.

Stamina Build (Unicorn OR Tritoch Focused) Build (A+)- Mixed in with a few Carbuncles levels to provide MP is IMO Terra' strongest build and also IMO the best build of the game.  It eclipses Maduin build because having higher HP and Stamina correlates to much more survivability and Terra is able to damage cap without Maduin evels and RegenX/Life 2/Reraise makes her the quite possibly the best white mage  of the game, only possibly beaten by a Sage-Stone Locke. Terra doesn't lose out on much by not building Magic and gains so much here. Factor in Omega Weapon and Gem Box to bring this build just way over the top. She's a Tank, a Offensive Powerhouse with access to almost every possible weakness and a Primary Healer all together in one incredible package. As a side note, a Phoenix Terra is viable too, but you're so much better off simply going a few Carbuncle levels for MP than switching to Unicorn if you're considering that route due to how important Stamina is on her.

Locke: 

Vigor (Ramuh) Build- (B)- Gau and Shadow are somewhat forced into DPS/Glass Cannon type builds due to lack of options, and both of them can do a lot more damage than Locke. This build makes Locke to frail to be a very reliable Healer and Double Life 2 user but also somewhat redundant and unnecessary when you already have Gau and Shadow to fill in for this role. Locke's access to very good evasion helps but magic damage will tear this Locke apart and fails to capitalize on Locke's best assets. This build can work great though if you're very careful. I believe if you choose this route it's better to go a Hybrid of Ramuh/Phoenix to make Locke a balanced and well-rounded party member.

Stamina (Kirin) Build- (A-)- Shockingly a great build despite Locke's magic list having no synnergy with Stamina due to Omega/Valiance combo working so extremely well with this build. Locke can provide very consistent high damage with this tanky build using those 2 weapons and make incredible use of his Drain magic, while saving his precious MP for Healing and Life 2 spells playing the role of support in the mean time. Not quite as good as Stam Terra but damn close.

Magic (Phoenix) Build- (A) Same HP as Kirin, replacing Stamina for MP. The end result is a Locke with massive magical reservoirs able to burst down bosses with Double Fire 3s and Bolt 2s  both very common weaknesses while having plenty of HP for reliable healing. The sheer amount of damage that he is capable of coupled with the ability to perform actions such as Double Life 2 makes Phoenix Locke one of the most impactful players of the game. Granted, Stamina Locke can do this exact same thing but Phoenix Locke is a bit better because the massive MP boost allows the player to be much more liberal with his magic and negates the need for MP support.

Edgar: 

Vigor Golem/Palidor mix (B+): Fantastic Spear damage with Dragon Helm consecutive attacks and tools and with the auto-crossbow buff really impressive Random Encounter wave clear potential. Can apply strong Golem summon support, but has weak Cure 2s, Mana Battery and Defib support with this build which prevents him from being an A level

Magic Siren Build- (A-)- The speed coupled with Magic really makes Edgar shine being able to provide constant HUGE MP boosts, Defib revivals that can come quite close to Life 2, Flash Damage for randoms and massively powerful Cure 2s. He has surprisingly high damage for bosses due to his selection of elemental sword jumping (and 50% proc rate from Dragon Soul) allowing him to utilize his high magic to hit enemy weaknesses.  A very well rounded hero who misses out on A status due to frailty especially when compared to HP focused Terra/Locke builds that can do similar things to Edgar. Golem summons are also mediocre on this build.

Unicorn Edgar-(D+)- Low speed/Magic/Vigor means weak and slow healing and damage. Has high HP/Magic and status resistance and will be Edgar's best Golem summon build, but why do this when you could do a Golem Edgar, giving you ALMOST as much HP and having useful Vigor so you're a Tank who also has a cannon to fire rather than an unarmed tank?

Sabin:

Golem Build (B-)- Pretty good damage when striking weaknesses with double claws, reliable Bum Rush and still has good Mantra/Chakra/Golem summon support skills. Cannot justify an A placement due to weak defenses secondary to a lack of shield on top of needing front row for full effectiveness, which makes him a lot less of a tank than one would imagine. He also has no revival skills. Sabin's natural access to a plethora of status options and spammable AoE keeps this in the B range, but if I was not factoring that in I might have gone C+

Stray Build (C-)- Stamina does a surprisingly poor job of fueling Chakra/Mantra, and Aurabolt is simply too weak. Like above, Sabin's other talents not related to Esper growth really help remedy this, but it's still mediocre and I find myself consistently disappointed with this build every time I tried it.

Terrato Build (B+)- IMO Sabin's best option, he's probably the only character who can truly build all HP and still dish out numbers that are high enough for him to stay relevant. This is due to his naturally exceptional Vigor and how Mantra, Drain and Golem scale so tremendously well with HP. He still suffers from Golem's weak defense issue, but no matter what with 3,000+ HP he won't be going down easy. He can brush off 1,000+ damage hits with ease and use Drain to restore it all back and go right back supporting and attacking. Incredible Golem support with sky high HP. This Sabin is not A because his damage is sub-par, he has no revival skills and Mantra is a much less reliable healing skill to Cure and Regen magic.

Celes:

Vigor Build (B)- Ramuh with a relatively even mix of Alexander can make for a tanky and reliable hard hitting build. Only having access to Life 1 and Cure 2 without a magic investment makes her fairly average for supporting.

Magic Build (Either Shiva or Siren mixed with Seraph)- (A-) - I personally prefer Shiva but I feel either one is viable. Cure 2 is now strong enough for reliably healing and magic offense with Shiva can be competitive with a Morphed Terra.  Illumina doesn't lose out much due to Holy Procs here either. She lacks the elemental diversity and spell selection of Terra and revival potential of Locke. She still fits A tier here due to ??? for MP free random AoE giving her an advantage and the extremely powerful although Niche Merton Spam set up. With MP support and Flame protecting gear for the team she can obliterate battles and keep the team healed at the same time. It's an incredible combo that no one else can pull off

Crusader Build (Stamina/Speed) -(B+) ??? Spammer. Really inspiring damage, great regen ticks, can maintain backrow safety and support when necessary. Lack of Runic is rarely an issue and no HP investment isn't so bad due to backrow/shield and high Stam for mag defense and status resistance. Suffers from same issue as Vigor, poorer magic/mp means less support capability.

Cyan:

Vigor Build (B+)- Bismarck with a relatively even mix of Alexander. A MASSIVE damage dealer with Tempest but even with the Alexander investment front row + no shield can take it's toll. Fortunately access to Empowerer means the enemy really needs to kill him before he can get his next turn. Poor party support/healing, very much a one trick pony. Can function as a "field medic" for long dungeons extremely well.

Stamina Build (C+)- This build seems a lot better early before Tempest and Alexander becomes available, making dungeons very manageable with AoE Eclipse and limitless Cures and Lifes saving you on item costs. The criterion of this tier list is late-game though, and late game he is tank with relatively poor damage/healing output

Shadow:

B+ Not going to bother distinguishing these builds. He has extremely valuable Haste X and Fenrir support coupled with being a powerful glass cannon damage. Interceptor and high evasion gives him a great edge over Gau. I personally wouldn't put him as an A since he falls too easily in battle and lacks healing abilities. Excellent in a tanky team to provide much needed HasteX support and damage.

Gau:

Speed Build- B- Gau is the only person I'd even consider doing pure speed with since he will act automatically so the speed never feels wasted. His DPS is hilarious with Dragon and Cerberus here. Like Shadow he can provide HasteX and Fenrir support. To me, Shadow is superior due to his controllability and access to the AoE and blink support of Shrurikens and scrolls. Sure, Gau in theory has MUCH more options than Shadow, but because he is locked into a rage and 1/3 of the time you don't get the action you want, I simply find Shadow more useful.  Speed Gau still has to remain in B tier since he can shut down even end-game bosses before they can wipe out the party, provided he can stay alive in the front row!

Stamina Gau (C+)- Another example of an early bloomer. Lower DPS takes away Gau's boss wrecking prowess a bit, though he is more likely to stay alive here. The bonus of being able to heal with certain rages is far too unreliable to be useful for my tastes. He makes for an excellent random clearer but not super helpful in boss fights after setting up HasteX and Fenrir

Relm:

Zoneseek Build (B+)- Osmose, high MP and powerful healing and damage but lacks revival and falls quite easily in battle

Starlet Build- (D)-Regen X is nice I guess? Murdering Shadow to give her interceptor?  This need helps

Speed Build: (B)- A better option to Starlet, mixed with Bahamut for MP levels it's not too bad. Lower magic power and higher turn rate however will translate to huge MP guzzling, will require MP support and use of Sketch to stretch her ability out. Can be a speed healer with brushes

Strago:

Magic Build- (B+) Osmose and massive magic damage, decent elemental options. Cure 3/RegenX replaced with Holy Wind which is less reliable in general. Amazing support options compared to his granddaughter

Stamina Build- (C)- Stamina synergizes with nothing at all for Strago, even Relm at least has Regen X. It does VERY indirectly help his supporting ability by keeping him alive with regen and stat resistance, but Magic Strago can support as well while still maintaining the option to nuke enemies hard with insane magic damage. I'm not really feeling this one.

Setzer:

Magic Build- A- Once you master slots, and with pausing the game isn't that difficult, Setzer is god like. You might never even need to his magic, his healing and offense is reliable and powerful. Seraph is an excellent support Esper that I forgot to mention with Celes which helps to make up for his lack of life spells. Seraph levels can be used to improve his tankiness though I feel the MP bonus is a bit of a waste on him

Stam Build-B+ Gil Toss is great and keeps getting better with each update, though it still pales in comparison to the utility, healing and pure power of Slots. Needs to rely more on his MP for healing this build is really requires some Seraph levels. However, stellar Regen ticks and Stam defenses is a major plus

Mog:

Maduin Mog: B Balanced Healing and Damage and reliable Dances. Dances are unpredictable and may not heal/dmg when you need it.

Magic Mog- B+ More geared toward utilizing his Magic skill and is quite powerful with all damage dances such as Water Rondo. Dances may fail and healing with this is poor. Jumping with elemental rods in conjunction with the high magic stats and proc rate elevates this build above Maduin for me.

Vigor Mog- B a step below Edgar (who is B+) because unlike Vig Edgar who can use the Vigor for his tools, Dance does not synergize at all with Vigor, so you end up basically giving up most of Mog's utility. Mog also does not have elemental swords but rods instead, which don't synnergize as well with Vigor.

Tier List Synopsis:

A Tier

A+ : Stamina Terra

A: Phoenix Locke

A-: Maduin Terra, Kirin Locke, Magic Edgar, Magic Celes, Magic Setzer

B Tier

B+: Vigor Edgar, Terrato Sabin, Crusader Celes, Vigor Cyan, Shadow, Gogo (infinite versatlity poor stats), Zoneseek Relm, Magic Strago, Stamina Setzer, Magic Mog

B: Vigor Locke, Vigor Celes, Maduin Mog, Vigor Mog, Speed Relm

B-: Bismarck Terra, Golem Sabin, Speed Gau

C Tier

C+: Stamina Cyan (late game), Stamina Gau (late game)

C: Stamina Strago

C-:  Stamina Sabin

D Tier

 D+:Unicorn Edgar

 D:Stamina Relm

 D-: Umaro (Uncontrollable almost no utility)

Is Unicorn Edgar really viable?

Are the Equipable Esper Bonuses and Relics independent from these class bonuses? For instance, if a player gets +25% HP can still equip an Esper or Relic offering the same bonus and have it stack?

As mentioned, I'm not sure how you might tell the game to give someone a certain class, especially if they are doing a 10/10 Hybrid type set up. I really like the idea of a tiered system with these bonuses being applied slowly at Esper Levels of 5-10-15-20 and MAYBE 25 if the player chooses to go that far.  This also allows the player the option of grabbing 5-10 levels in several espers to pick up multiple types of bonuses if they want. In looking at some of the bonuses such as "MORPH DELAY IS SHORTER", that isn't really TIERABLE, but it could work for a lot of them.

If this is implemented though, bosses and enemies after Dadaluma really need to be buffed, as these updates have been doing a great job of avoid "loss aversion", aka giving the players new buffs rather than nerfing things which is a lot more enjoyable but the challenge factor of the game will suffer a bit because of it.

My Impressions of the Bonuses

Terra
Mage (Base)
Battlemage (Bismark)  ---  Morph delay is shorter; Break and Storm cast faster
Black Mage (Maduin)  ---  MP+25%; all Fire/Ice/Bolt spells & Ultima cast faster
White Mage (Unicorn)  ---  HP+25%; all Cure and Life spells cast faster
Omega Mage (Tritoch) ---  Regen MP while morphed; Remedy and Regen spells cast faster
Red Mage (Phoenix) ---  HP/MP+12.5%; Cure (1-2), Fire (1-2), and Life (1) cast faster

Everyone EXCEPT Battlemage I feel is spot on. The problem with Battlemage is Break/Storm casting faster does not at all synergize with a Bismark build. Instead, I'd give Terra either an Inherent Counter or an Inherent Oath Veil for 50% spell proc chance.

Holy Knight (Ramuh)  ---  HP+25%; all Swords get some kind of bonus(?)
Dark Knight (Phantom)  ---  No dual-wield damage penalty; Merton and Demi/Quartr cast faster
Valkyrie (Crusader)  ---  Inherent Cover; Safe and Haste cast faster
Vanguard (Alexandr)  ---  Inherent Counter; Life and Regen spells cast faster
Magic Knight (Siren)  ---  Runic restores 2x MP; all Ice & Bolt spells cast faster
Holy Mage (Shiva)  ---  MP+25%; Holy, Merton, and all Cure spells cast faster
Cleric (Seraph) ---  HP+25%; Rerise, Remedy, and all Cure spells cast faster
All great ideas! Just a question of the SWORD Bonus. Once again, an inherent Oath Veil could work here or maybe a reduction in MP crit cost since Celes will likely be running crit/proc weapons on that build

Now another thing I realize is with your new Stamina idea, Cover and Counter % improves with Stamina, which means giving Inherent Counter or Cover on a Stamina Build is somewhat counter-intuitive. I'd consider combining the Counter and Cover into Alexander, and giving Valkyrie a boost to ???

Locke
Rogue (Base)
Fighter (Ramuh)  ---  Critical Attack rate up; all Swords get some kind of bonus(?)
Paladin (Kirin) ---  All Shields get some kind of bonus(?); Cure (1-2) cast faster
Thief (Ifrit)  ---  Steal always succeeds; Drain and all Bolt spells cast faster
Red Mage (Phoenix) ---  HP/MP+12.5%; Cure (1-2), Fire (1-2), and Life (1) cast faster
 

Fighter-MP crit cost down

Paladin-Put an idea for this on Edgar's build

Thief- Steal always succeeds is kind of...meh. Could maybe combine that with Steal>>Mug but even then Steal is extremely situational at best. Increased Evasion and Counter rate fits well with Thief.

Edgar
Engineer (Base)
Alchemist (Siren)  ---  Status-setting attacks/spells ignore enemy stamina; gain elemental resistance from equipped weapons
Sentinel (Golem)  ---  Inherent Counter; Tools delay is shorter
Phalanx (Unicorn)  ---  All Shields get some kind of bonus(?); Safe and Slow spells cast faster
Dragoon (Palidor) ---  Two-handed damage bonus is 75% instead of 50%; Haste and Float spells cast faster

The shield thing again, hmmm. One thing that comes to mind for me is making a Blocked physical hit restore HP for the damage it would have caused, like Runic but for HP.

Those Alchemist bonuses are really unique and interesting!

Sabin
Monk (Base)
Shaman (Stray) - AKA "Stam-WOW" Sabin  ---  HP Regen rate is doubled; gain elemental resistance from equipped weapons
Godhand (Golem) - AKA "Slap-Chop" Sabin  ---  Critical Attack Rate Up; Blitz delay is shorter
Guardian (Terrato) - AKA "Schticky" Sabin ---  Inherent Cover; Sleep and Drain spells cast faster

Perfect

Cyan
Samurai (Base)
Swordsmaster (Bismark) ---  +25% Physical Damage; Bushido delay is shorter
Templar (Kirin) ---  Inherent Cover; Cure spells cast faster
Vanguard (Alexandr)  ---  Inherent Counter; Life and Regen spells cast faster
 

Anyway to distinguish the Bushido Delay to specific skills, such as reduced Tempest/Dispatch Delay versus reduced Dragon/Eclipse Delay?

Kirin's bonuses are meh when considering that his high Stamina will already give him a high Cover rate and Cure spells on Cyan are garbage. Instead consider Mag+25% to buffs his cure spells and keep Dragon/Eclipse powerful into late game

Shadow
Ninja (Base)
Assassin (Phantom) ---  Critical Attack rate up; Pre-Emtpive Attack rate up
Shinobi (Fenrir) 

The Critical Attack is definitely enticing to encourage the player to "Fight" over "Throw", Pre-Emptive Attack rate up is simply Meh

Fenrir without a doubt needs to offer a bonus to Interceptor, such as "Interceptor counters all blocked physical attacks" instead of being it's open separate thing and/or a buff to interceptor damage. Truthfully, giving a Interceptor buff synergizes much better with Phantom than Fenrir, so I'd maybe move the current Phantom Bonus to Fenrir in that case.

Gau
Hunter (Base)
Beastmaster (Stray)
Berserker (Fenrir)

From FunnyMzn

Spitballing Gau Ideas:

Beastmaster: Controllable Rage. Gau doesn't fly into a berserker frenzy when selecting Rage.

• You still cannot switch Rages. When you hit "Rage" again, you just trigger the next attack in the Rage you all ready selected.
• Green Cherry is still needed to allow switching Rage again.
• This bonus allows Gau access to spot healing (Item/Regen) and some buffs/debuffs (HasteX) while Raging.

Berserker: Rage Counterattack. Gau now counterattacks with his actual Rage command, instead of his measly Fight. Still subject to 2/3 and 1/3 odds for the two attacks. Being on the non-stamina Gau helps control the power of this bonus.

I love these ideas

Setzer
Gambler (Base)
Undertaker (Shoat) - AKA "Slotzer" ---  No dual-wield damage penalty; Doom and Poison/Bio cast faster
Pilgrim (Starlet) - AKA "The Bank"(*) --- Inherent Counter; Remedy and Regen spells cast faster
Cleric (Seraph) ---  HP+25%; Rerise, Remedy, and all Cure spells cast faster
 

Undertaker: Are Dice even affected by Dual Wield? Or would the No Dual Wield simply affect Darts and Knives?

Pilgrim-I am not big on giving Inherent Counter/Cover on a build that is already focusing Stamina anyway. What about a Gil Toss bonus instead?

Cleric-Perfect!

Mog
Moogle (Base)
Druid (Shoat)  ---  Summon delay is shorter; Break, Quake, and Poison/Bio cast faster
Geomancer (Maduin) ---  Dance always succeeds; (?)
Dragoon (Palidor) - AKA "Mogoon" ---  Two-handed damage bonus is 75% instead of 50%; Haste and Float spells cast faster
Guardian (Terrato)  ---  Inherent Cover; Sleep and Drain spells cast faster

Geomancer bonus is not helpful since with a Geomancer build your dance will almost always work anyway. Instead, a buff to the Healing potential of Stamina spells used during Dance 

Strago
Blue Mage (Base)
Sorcerer (Zoneseek) ---  MP+25%; X-Zone, Dark, and Ice spells cast faster
Wizard (Shiva) ---  +25% Magical Damage; Stop and Osmose spells cast faster
Sage (Odin)  ---  HP Regen rate is doubled; Lore delay is shorter

The spells the cast faster between Sorcerer/Wizard might make more sense with Sorcerer getting a faster X-Zone, Doom and Stop and Wizard getting faster Dark, Ice and Osmose spells

Relm
Pictomancer (Base)
Sorceress (Zoneseek) ---  MP+25%; Meteor, Flare, and Fire spells cast faster
Priestess (Starlet) - AKA "Love You Long Time" Relm ---  Summon delay is shorter; Rerise,Remedy, and Regen spells cast faster
Illusionist (Ifrit) ---  Brushes may set image; (?)

Illusionist- Brush may set image + Evasion up

Priestess-Scrap Summon Delay, offer a bonus to Interceptor or a bonus to Sketch

He only has access to Vigor+1 and Aurabolt/Chakra don't gain a ton from Stamina anyway, Mantra also is more based on his current HP than Stamina. For these reasons a pure Terrato Build is also very viable. Chakra still provides respectable mp, Mantra is INSANE unless Sabin lost a lot of health and Sabins damage is respectable if exploiting a weakness. Terrato also doesn't take much away from his random encounter potential with full powered SleepX Sonic Boom Fire Dance and Quake.

I agree Stam Strago seems niche and not nearly as useful as the Mag Version. I'm not sure that the major reduction in damage output and osmose absorb potential is worth status and magic resistance. It'd be better if more of his kit besides just Odin synergized with Stamina