Bring Out the Espers!

[Psiko]

In many other Final Fantasy games, summons are a huge part of the battle scene, especially in the later ones. Bahamut, Leviatian...they all play a major role in those games, yet I find myself never using the Espers themselves in any battle during FFVI.

Am I the only one, or do they seem to be less useful (or necessary) as they are in other games?

Out of all of the Espers you have used, which ones are useful, and which ones...suck?

[psychosyd]

I really gained a liking for the non damage ones. None of the espers ever could do more damage than my main party could. Ever, it was not worth using them.

The support espers are actually pretty good. Early on, Kirin casts Regen, which is a handy spell to have at times, just to start battles off (Though I think FF7 had the best regen idea with the constant upgoing of HP)

Golem is also good, his Earth guard REALLY blocks a LOT of attacks if I remember correctly...

I used Phantom when going to the esper caves, and a few other places (Like owzers house in the WoR) because of the lack of magic, really made beating the place easy. That and the physical attacks in many of those places were rather damaging, and it helped a lot.

Palidor is fun to throw at people. I used him with the Dragonhorn to see what it would do, worked on a couple bosses. Its also a strategy for the Magi Master, to get away from his final attack ULTIMA... have your party members midair when he casts it (or some anyways)

Ragnarok is the only way to get all the items.

Starlet and Sraphrim were my quick heal espers when I didnt have Cure 2 or 3, and when first getting them heal for more anyways...

In the end, its the support espers that work, not the attack ones (except for some like Stray.. I dont get stray at all)

OH! One more... Odin/Raiden

I just find those guys freakin cool, and the attack is fun to throw out from time to time though by all means not nessecary

[Elf]

Originally Posted by psychosyd

In the end, its the support espers that work, not the attack ones (except for some like Stray.. I dont get stray at all)

I believe Stray muddles all the enemies, but I'm not sure.
The espers in general are kinda hard to find in battle if you don't know where they are, plus you can only use the one you have equipped at the time and only once at that (per battle). It makes it too much of a hassle to constantly have the best battle usable ones in while still learning new magics and getting level up bonuses. I think I have a list somewhere of what each esper does.....

Edit: Posted it in the random list thread.

Meh, I never used espers much either. I think the only one I used once in a while was Golem. All the others were unworth it. They take so much MP and don't do too much damage either.

[LocoColt04]

And speaking of Elf's edit, I edited his reply in the Random Lists Thread, so you all might want to check it out. I've got a link to every single thing you could possibly want to know about each esper, so it's all just a few clicks away.

I agree with every single thing psychosyd said, so I don't have much other input... except I always found myself using Tritoch, just for the heck of it... I always thought a tri-elemental attack was great fun. And it is, isn't it?

[psychosyd]

That and Bahamut just because its Bahamut and Flare is cool... dragons always fascinate me... but I think I use him like once... I would rather use Crusader and die and laugh at my entire parties misfortunes

Espers are much more useful in the other and later games. Why? I think that Square put much more effort into the summons by adding more mad skillz and better details about them more.

[tho24]

U know, Im in the middle of playin this game on the PSX and I have to say, I dont think Ill be usin any Espers as I continue. Dont get me wrong, great concept, but the execution was off. Im better off castin spells of my own. Though I appreciated Golem; Earth Guard works really well.

[zippedspark]

Golems earth guard is defiantly useful all the time I think and aside from that I just like using them for fun but I have been saved by them from time to time.
Using palidore when your being beaten is a good way of getting away from the enemies and then coming back with a vengeance.
Mostly just fun though.

[Brachioraidos]

Well I mostly use espers for gaining spells. The only really good ones are Golem, Zonseeker, Fenir and some others. In the GBA version, Dilbos is usefull againist the ugraded ice dragon.

[Phantom]

I find all the protective and defensive espers more useful. Through Classic Bahamut and Leviathan in GBA version are very useful offensively. Most other espers like Ragnorok are only useful for learning spells like Ultima.

[Gun_blade]

Agree that the attack espers aren't much use especially later on in the game where i just found myself using Ultima or Meteor magic wise. I like the way you have to equip espers to gain magic but apart from the odd support esper they're not a great help.

[Rob17]

The only espers i had any use for were ragnarok obv, bahamut for some instant cheeky damage now and again and sepharim for healing.

Even when i played VI for the first time i ddnt feel as though the espers were any use, even in the WOR, i should of changed ragnarok for the sword though, gladius was enough though.

[guardian]

Espers really took a back seat in this one, even though that this one probably had the most reliable and useful ablities, only because you could not summon multiple times in a fight. Their only real use was for the ablities, which was very unfortunate.

[Eternal Anomaly]

I used Espers just because I wanted to see them and I learned abilitys anyway...but if I were to speak of battle strategy, I relyed more on magic and dont remember considering Espers like a real weapons or way of wining the battle.
It seems quite sad that Espers lacked real useability, or maby its just the way I played it.