Ricardo vs. Samuto

To start the experiment, I will make a topic on Ricardo.

How does he truly fare against Samuto? Looking at bases now, Samuto wins everything, especially durability in both HP and Def. Samuto even has more levels to work with, thus more orb useage, on top of promotion bonuses.

Growth wise, Ricardo does win Strength by quite a massive amount, +30%, but Samuto wins everywhere else but Def (which doesn't matter since Samuto has a huge Def lead).

Both have the same Str base, so Ricardo will actually be winning here. Both can use orbs to improve Str growth, so Ricardo will surely cap Str if he does that while Samuto goes to having acceptable Str.

To put things in perspective, without orbs Ricardo can average +8 Str by level 20. Samuto averages +3 by that same level, or +5 with promotion bonuses factored in.

Their durability will even out around level 20, but Samuto will gain a lead once he promotes and is able to continue growing more HP. Still, this might not outweigh Ricardo's Str advantage.

So it's a toss up between Ricardo's potential Str and Samuto being better now.

What do you guys think?

Well, first thing I notice is that Samuto starts with 4 more HP and 4 more Def. You don't just grow out of that. He needs 8 levels just to tie base. Ricardo also comes with a glaring fault of 1 luck. Enemies don't have high skill, but that is a noticeable problem. 5 levels to tie Sam's base. Granted he'll win from there. However with their growth and bases, they'll basically tie until Ricardo's level 17 compared to a level 15 Sam.

Rickard (prepromotion) will win offense by a bit (he will have 2 Str to Sam's 1 after 5 levels, 5 Str to Ricard's 10 levels compared to Sam's 2), but 3 things come to mind.


-Sam does have a crit lead of 7.

-Sam starts with 7 rank to Ricardo's 6, meaning Sammy can use killing edges, Ricardo can't. 5 levels, Sam can use silver with his 40% growth, Ricard's 30% boosts him to 7 in that time. So, Sammy could be using the following while Ricard's only using killers. Silver Sword, Thunder Sword, Swordslayer. 8 levels later, he has the rank to use Miracle and Master blades. Ricard just graduated to silvers. He can make up for his minor str loss with far stronger and versatile weapons.

-Speed lead of 2. Minor I guess, but it lets him double 6 AS thieves where Rickard couldn't. Could help him kill a Sniper in chapters where you're being chased when you're about to end a chapter anyways, letting him further get a level lead.

-Promotion, obviously. +2 Str, Skill, Speed, Def, +3 Res. Str was his only loss. Sam at 20 would have 9 Str, Rickard would have 14. Granted this gets him quite a lead, but do remember that in that time, Rick's only got 11 Wlv. This is the Miracle and Master he can't use where Sam can. Needless to say, that makes up for the 3 Str loss.

This also means more levels for star orbs, yadda yadda. Considering his sizable durability lead and Wlv lead, I can easily say it's easier to swallow Sam having a level lead over Rick.

Rick does make up for it though with thief utility, but I'm not sure it's quite enough to make up for that...

Thief utility is even more irrelevant in Book 2 than it is in Book 1/FEDS. Not only does the Thief Staff exist, but Chest keys are buyable.

-Promotion, obviously. +2 Str, Skill, Speed, Def, +3 Res. Str was his only loss. Sam at 20 would have 9 Str, Rickard would have 14. Granted this gets him quite a lead, but do remember that in that time, Rick's only got 11 Wlv. This is the Miracle and Master he can't use where Sam can. Needless to say, that makes up for the 3 Str loss.

I see. I suppose these can just be Hammerne'd if needed.