Part 24 is out! We begin the proper version of the Dominion of Hate, setting out with our preferred protagonists. The first order of business is to assemble a team.
Extra Notes
-The stories finally come together, and we have access to all our protagonist characters save for Oersted. It's important to note that in the SFC version, characters come in only with whatever they were equipped with by the end of their chapter. In the HD version, every character starts and joins in with their entire inventory that they had by the end of their chapter, including equipment that was equipped to their allies. You have a lot more to work with in the HD version due to this, and don't need to be as mindful to load up your characters with the best equipment before closing out their chapters. Let's go over the protagonists and how they stack up with each other real quick:
Pogo: Not much to say about Pogo, he's just about one of the best characters both as your main and as a party member. His HP and defenses are sky high, and he has incredible attack power as well. In both versions he can come in with some of the most powerful equipment in the game, and in the HD version he brings a wealth of supplies to make the early going easier if he's your main. He'll also easily be one of the highest leveled characters in the chapter regardless of anything. About the only weakness he has is that his AOE skills are fairly underpowered, which can easily be compensated for with other characters. Most people end up using Pogo in their party, and for good reason. If he's not your main, it can be advisable to hold off on recruiting him for some characters. Some people like Masaru and Cube enter the chapter woefully under powered, and their chances of beating him in order to recruit him can be a little dicey. Lei is the only person who can recruit him without a fight because he's a pre-historic simp. Pogo can be found in the balmgrass field if he isn't your main character, which makes him a little harder to find in the SFC version since it's a secret area you might not even know about.
Earthen Heart Master: Very good, close to the best you can use. Lei, Yun and Hong are all great in their own ways, though I'd say Lei and Yun bring a bit more to the table with their unique skills. Funnily enough, most of the Earthen Heart skills aren't that great, with Yun getting a lot of mileage out of Wise Fox's Grace but that's about it. Where all three of these characters excel is their unique skills they begin to learn as they level in this chapter. Sacred Dragon's Temper with Lei is an especially potent field nuke in many encounters. Hong definitely falters a bit here, as most of his uniques are easily interrupted charge based skills, but like all others he will eventually be able to use Heavenly Peaks Descent as much as he wants. He's also the most durable Earthen Heart by a mile, so he has that going for him. All three can be found at the peak of the mountain (how appropriate), but each has a different recruit requirement. Yun will just join you, no questions asked. This means it's a good idea to not use Yun as your main if he's the Earthen Heart Master. Lei will demand a fight, like so many others, and you must defeat her to recruit her. Hong has the most unique requirement, you need to feed him in order to recruit him. How much he needs to be fed depends on the quality of the items you give him, with 19 balmgrasses being the absolute most you need to feed him to get him to join. Hong is one of the most annoying people to recruit due to this, so he's not a bad choice for main if you want to avoid that. Regardless, all of the Earthen Heart Masters are worth adding to your party and like Pogo, most people do work them in.
Oboromaru: Like Pogo, Oboromaru joins in with tons of supplies and excellent equipment if you played his chapter in a completionist fashion. Oboromaru has a little bit of everything, with great ranged skills, decently powerful AOEs, and any charge based skill he has is usually fast charging. If you played for kills in his chapter, he'll also sign on at a high level with most of his skills ready to use. Oboromaru isn't the absolute best at any one thing, but his versatility makes him a decent addition to any team and he's another good main due to his resource boon. To recruit him, you must examine the sign outside Archon's Roost. Oboromaru will ambush you, and if you defeat him, you can recruit him. Like Pogo, he can be a little precarious to fight with certain characters, so you may want to hold off for a bit until you're absolutely ready for him. Oboromaru is an advisable addition to your team, though I would say he's a no brainer like Pogo or Lei.
Sundown: Sundown is the first character where I feel which version of the game you're playing is a major factor in his usability. In the SFC version, Sundown is a major glass cannon. He has low HP and defense, but extremely high power and good range on all his moves. His ultimate skill is also just outright busted, and will almost always hit for the damage cap of 999. His damage has been severely toned down in the HD version, and since most of his moves are multi-hit he also has serious accuracy problems. This does limit him quite a bit, because he's just as frail as he was in the SFC version without as much of a justification for it. He's an easy choice for main in the SFC version, but I wouldn't really advise using him as such in HD. His recruitment process is also rather lengthy, requiring you to talk to him in a variety of locations before he joins. Once you do recruit him, I wouldn't recommend dropping him until you complete his personal dungeon. Sundown will return to a random location among the places you've spoken to him once removed from the party, making it a small hassle to re-recruit him. Again, he's an easy recommend for your party in the SFC version, but he's wildly inconsistent in HD so I wouldn't really call him a must-have.
Edit: Shout out to HannaCrusis for a clarification, in the HD version Sundown will always return to Hasshe's hut when dismissed from your party. This makes him much less of a hassle to put back into your line up if you dismiss him.
Masaru: I know I was very subtle about this, but I'm not a huge fan of Masaru in any capacity. He's a terrible choice for main since he is the lowest leveled character by a mile and has absolutely no items at his disposal when he joins in. As a party member, he does level up very quickly but all his moves are rather weak. He also has abysmal special defense, especially in the SFC version, so he can be remarkably frail in spite of his sky high HP. Now the HD version does throw him a couple bones. His moves are generally stronger across the board, and the weakness system means he can actually hit fairly hard when striking a weakness. He covers more move types than you'd expect, so it's rare he's ever left with no good options. All that said though, he still falls pretty short. He doesn't really have any single target attacks that outpace anyone else you can use, his range is poor and his AOE skills are really bad in terms of damage. Masaru is also by far the least accurate character in the game, so you will be seeing Miss pop up annoyingly often when you use him. You can get his ultimate weapon without much fuss, and it is one of the strongest in the game, but that mostly just bring him up from bad to decent. Masaru can be found in the gaol of the castle, and will need to be fought in order to recruit him. Unless you are playing as Sundown or Cube, he'll join without a fight in that case. I really wouldn't recommend using Masaru, he's just kind of bad.
Akira: Another character where version has a major impact, though thankfully it's a more positive change up compared to Sundown. Functionally, Akira has the same role in your party in the HD version that he does in the SFC version, but all of Akira's stats have seen a sizable bump in HD, particularly his HP and defense. As well, many of Akira's skills have had their charge time reduced or removed entirely, allowing him to act much more quickly in battle. Akira boasts the best range and AOE in the game, as well as being inarguably the best debuffer in the game. His ultimate skill is also a field nuke like Sacred Dragon's Temper that can inflict every ailment in the game, including petrification! Akira was merely okay in the SFC version due to his frailty and relatively low damage, but he's a solid addition in HD. As your main, he joins at a high level with a decent spread of supplies like Pogo and Oboromaru, though his items and equipment aren't quite as good. As a party member, he's decently easy to recruit. He'll be found lounging in the Forgotten village, and he can be recruited with or without a fight depending on the dialogue choices you take. I wouldn't rate him as must-have in either version of the game, but he's a passable addition in SFC and a pretty good one in HD. Since there's only 7 characters, you can't really make a perfect death squad where everyone contributes equally, so Akira has the most interesting niche uses if he's the odd-man out on damage dealing.
Cube: The most unique party member, though this isn't strictly a good thing. Cube works like Taroimo, not gaining EXP in battle but his HP, Accuracy, and Evasion can be upgraded through Power Parts. If you spent a lot of time farming those with Akira in the HD version, he can carry them into this chapter and buff Cube into the stratosphere. Cube can also use Taroimo's accessories to learn new moves, Dizzy Shot being a particularly good one to grab. If you failed to have Akira bring those accessories into the chapter, enemies do drop them on occasion so Cube isn't completely screwed out of new move options. Cube also has gargantuan natural defenses, so once you can upgrade his HP he is a supreme tank. He can also heal as a counter, giving him unparalleled survivability, along with aiding the survivability of anyone standing around him. Cube's biggest drawback is his fairly low damage potential. If he doesn't have Dizzy Shot, he has to rely on the incredibly slow Maser Cannon for damage, which tops out around 200 damage. Cube can only use one weapon, his ultimate weapon, so it takes a bit to get him in a good spot for attacking. Fortunately, his personal dungeon has no combat, so it's no issue getting the weapon for him. Cube is pretty ill-advised as a main due to the wonky rate at which he gains power, but he is an interesting supporting party member. To recruit him, you must grab his battery from the mountain, and reattach it to him at the castle balcony. He'll join you with no fuss at that point. I'm not a huge fan of Cube personally, but some people like him.
Edit: Shout outs to CptWedgie and HannaCrusis for some extra clarification! CptWedgie pointed out that Cube can use the Bowling Ball if you bring one of those into the Dominion of Hate, while Hanna pointed out that unfortunately Power Parts do not seem to carry into this chapter. So Cube is slightly stronger in one aspect but not able to be power gamed in another that I thought of.
This is just my take on everyone, if you know something I don't feel free to let me know!
-To get the best ending of the game, you must recruit everyone. You don't necessarily need to gear them up or do their personal dungeons, but you do need to have recruited them into your party at least once. I'll be doing all the dungeons and getting everyone to level 16 just for the sake of demonstrating all ultimate skills.