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Apologies if this has been done before, I did as much searching as my pre-war computer allowed.

Anyway, what're your feelings for Gau? Both character-wise and battle-wise.

I'll start by saying I used to hate Gau. Well, atleast dislike intently. Rages were bothersome, and he seemed shallow to me, as a character, a pure comic relief character. However, during a recent playthrough I decided to pay him a bit more attention, try out some more famous Rages, experiment with them and get some Rages other than his initial ones and visit his father.

I've got to say, he's now one of my favourite characters. I feel I know my way around the rages slightly better, and he's just immensely powerful from the get go, and in some cases able to attack from the back row. The first 'wow' moment was during the 'protect Narshe' event - he was wiping out troops left right and center with the Vomammoth rage, between 200 and 400 damage on all enemies, quite a nice thing to see at Lv15.
Plot-wise, I've come to realize he's an interesting enough character, and has his fair share of heartwarming moments. From the theme that plays the first time you see him and the hilarious 'Mr.Thou' scene to the 'suit' scene to the event with his father. I feel Gau is a slightly taxing character, hard to crack, but well worth the rewards.

Oh, and he's way over-powered, stat-wise, in my opinion. Which I like.

How 'bout you?

This post has been edited by Mimic on 20th January 2005 18:21

Ouuh uaaaoooh! I love Gau! ..... let's travel together.

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Get me off this Disciplinary Committee so I can play any FF except for FF8!!!

Play a low-level game.

I used to hate him. The fact my party had an uncontrollable character on its hands that couldn't even attack physically (directly) made him seem like a complete waste of space.

Then when playing my low-level game, I realized he was actually a wolf in sheep's clothing: the little guy rocks majorly! Being able to cast second-tier spells freely made most fights tons easier than they would've been. And his wild cat rage damaged stuff to a point my other characters couldn't match. His magic power was considerably high, too, and only got better once I stuffed two earrings in his relic slots.

L33t. Very l33t.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Well, my feelings on Gau in battle is that he's a good extra caster if you need one (especialy with the Snow Muffler). I know that rages are realy powerful if you use them correctly but I get panicky sometimes and a large menu of selections doesn't help.

As a character, my feelings are that he's cool . I like the opening scene with him allot and you would've been stuck on the Velt forever if it weren't for his "shiney" thing. I also found him showing a far wider array of emotions then the other characters. Depending on what was happening he could be happy, sad, discomfortable just, plain goofey and more. If you were to take another character lets say Shadow*, well I think you can see where that is going.

Well that's all I've got to say on the "wild child" and overall I think it is a fair assestment. In my book, Gau = .




*Unfair, I know.

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Role reversal at its finest.

He's really grown on me. I'm one of the people who found him annoying at first but then grew to really like him as I got more rages. He's also a good contrast for the more serious characters and adds a good touch of humor.

Gau has always been my favorite character. First it was because he is so different from the other characters. The concept of having a kid be a warrior out to save the world is so odd. This is what really captured my interest upon reading the instruction manual and I couldn't wait to get him and try out his nifty rage abilities. Yeah there's Relm, but she doesn't have wildly cool green hair so phffbbt.

Once on the Veldt figuring out how to get Gau was a neat little puzzle which was very rewarding once solved. Upon getting him he puts on a great display of his very funny personality. The scenes with Sabin, Cyan and Gau are some of the most famous because of the comical interaction between them, led by Gau. So we got his unique presentation, the unique puzzle to get him, his unique personality and then this unique rage skill. This guy has "special" written all over him!

Then after all that is also turns out that he's awesome in battle. All those rages open up tons of possibilities and a select few are insanely powerful, perhaps more so than what the designers originally intended.

If that wasn't enough Gau's even got his own piece of land, a large piece at that.

So I like Gau very much for these reasons.

This post has been edited by i90east on 21st January 2005 02:44

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

I never cared for Gau. It was just so time consuming getting his rages, maybe if you could net some exp in the veldt it would be worth it. I don't like the fact that you don't get to control him once a rage has been put in also. I also prefer to have my battle on active and not wait so scrolling through to find the right attack to match the battle eats away time.

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This is my world: (Got my second chapter up, 3rd Chapter about 80% complete)
http://www3.sympatico.ca/daniel876/homepage.html

To respond to Racthoh's post, I'd like to mention that if you use one of the hacks for the rom where you can control Gau's rages, he becomes that much more fun to play. (Dunno if we're strictly trying to stick to Gau-as-is on this topic...)
As many others mentioned, his comic relief is a nice change of pace, especially with some of the heavy drama that occurs in this game at times. His theme is one of my favorites (though I love almost all the FFVI music, especially Relm's - very fitting of her youth and character...but I digress), his history is interesting, and the scene in the WoR with his father tugs on the heart-strings. Gau's a character that, on my first few play-throughs, I didn't care much for. Learning more about him and experimenting with his Rages has allowed him to grow on me.

This post has been edited by ghaleon1103 on 21st January 2005 04:14

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I don't pee in your pool, so please don't flame on my post.

Funny you asked this, because I was just thinking about it.

Gau is probably my least favorite character in the game, from a gameplay perspective and a storyline perspective.

In the game I'm playing right now, I tried really, really hard to like Gau. He's a main character, sort of, and I felt bad that I constantly delegated him to "airship duty." My thinking was "the designers went out of their way to make this unique character, I should at least try to use him."

But dealing with him is time consuming and outright painful at times. I spent about two hours on the Veldt today trying to learn rages. After countless encounters with Lobos, Leafers, and other enemies not worth leaping, I just gave up. Learning rages is frustrating, and using them in battle is even worse. I understand the good points: "Stray Cat" is one of the best physical attack in the game, and yes, it does rule having mid-level spells early on. But the lack of control kills me. I don't like watching as he repeats two attacks for the duration of a battle. And why bother teaching him magic? You can cast a few spells early in battle, but once you rage you're stuck and magic becomes pointless. When I do use Gau, it's when I'm wandering around leveling up. For event scenarios, (i.e. Owzer's house, Doma Castle) it's "guard the ship, boy."

(Oddly enough, the other two characters that go uncontrollable, Mog and Umaro, I both like. Each of Mog's dances has a wider variety of moves, and I like having the option of just hitting "fight" when I can't make up my mind. As for Umaro, he's uber-powerful and I know he'll do damage, not something silly like cast "slow 2." Plus, character throw is just plain hysterical.)

As for the story...well, I appreciate the concept, but they really didn't flesh it out. Think how deep they delve into the lives of Celes, Terra, Cyan, Locke, Setzer...even Shadow. Gau gets that one poignant event scene with his father in the WoR, and that's it. He and Mog could just as well be "hidden characters." They are practically afterthoughts to the storyline. But at least they didn't put Gau on the cover of the SNES box!

This post has been edited by KefkaLives on 21st January 2005 04:50

Nah, I'm not one to use roms or hacks for a game (with the exception of FFIII simply because I had no other way to get the game other than buying a Famicon and learning a different language. A rom was easier in that case).

Although yes ghaleon1103 I do agree with his theme being awesome. It had a mysterious sort of, feel bad for me feel to it.

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This is my world: (Got my second chapter up, 3rd Chapter about 80% complete)
http://www3.sympatico.ca/daniel876/homepage.html

Quote (KefkaLives @ 20th January 2005 23:46)

As for the story...well, I appreciate the concept, but they really didn't flesh it out. Think how deep they delve into the lives of Celes, Terra, Cyan, Locke, Setzer...even Shadow. Gau gets that one poignant event scene with his father in the WoR, and that's it. He and Mog could just as well be "hidden characters." They are practically afterthoughts to the storyline. But at least they didn't put Gau on the cover of the SNES box!

I'd like to stick up for Square on that one.

Gau is wild boy who can barely speak. Terra and Celes on the other hand are full grown and fluent and hence able to yack about what's going on in their lives during most of the game during and in between plot points. When the "Gau's father," and "Gau in a suit & tie" scenes happen it only makes sense that there should be little or nothing leading up to those events due to Gau's minimal communication skills.

I love Gau's story because it indirectly portrays the struggle that he had to go through because of his abandoment and separation, and it does this subtley and with seemingly little effort because it's so quick and efficient at producing the final heart wrenching scene. I respect your opinion, but overall I'm just saying that a character that gets less screen time and much less dialogue can still be used for equally poignant or better story-line results, and that Gau is a case of this is supported by the "Cult of Gau" observable in the avatars of CoN regulars like Mr Thou and i90.... just hope they don't build a tower and start pacing in front of it in lines.... creepy...



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Get me off this Disciplinary Committee so I can play any FF except for FF8!!!

Quote (Ejoty @ 21st January 2005 00:12)

I respect your opinion, but overall I'm just saying that a character that gets less screen time and much less dialogue can still be used for equally poignant or better story-line results, and that Gau is a case of this is supported by the "Cult of Gau" observable in the avatars of CoN regulars like Mr Thou and i90.... just hope they don't build a tower and start pacing in front of it in lines.... creepy...

Well, of course this is only my opinion. I'm not trying to tell people that love Gau that they're wrong, just that I don't agree.

I believe Gau and Mog could have been left out of the storyline completely without it being affected. This is not true of the other characters (minus Gogo and Umaro, of course). But I understand you feel differently, and completely respect that. I've met a few people, crazy as it sounds, that can't stand Kefka. The idea of a "clown" rising through the ranks from henchman to

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

final boss

is absurd to them. I couldn't disagree more, but variety is the spice of life .

Speaking as somebody who has written a document on the Rage skill over 300 kB large, I think I can safely say that the Rage skill is the best skill in the game.

But here's the set-back. It takes time to get Rages, and you have to know what you're doing.

His strenght is pretty much a direct result of the amount of time you're willing to invest in him and your general knowledge of the game. Randomly selecting a Rage can get you a Rage which casts useless moves such as Slow or PoisonBarb (or worse).

But yes, while Gau's probably not the best character around; Gau's offense in the WoB is amazing, but his versatility is bested by Gogo, his defensive capabilities equalled by Mog (while Mog has the better offense due to DragoonBoots/Dragon Horn combo) and his Mblock is emberassingly low unless you make a conscious effort with the Merit Award.

Still, with the right strategies, Gau can clean house more then most characters can (did you know that a hypothetical lvl. 1 Gau could defeat Kefka by himself?).


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The Collapse of Heaven and Earth

As far as best skill Djibriel, I think some people may disagree with you on that one. My best game, as far as learning rages was concerned in which case I was missing only a few, I found him to still be lacking. I could rely on the randomness that rages possessed, however a blitz was far more capable of delivering what I needed when I needed it.

I'm sure for those low level challenges he is great to use. If in theory a level 1 Gau can kill Kefka he must be good. But those challenges have never appealed to me in anyway so I'll never consider Gau part of my main party.

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This is my world: (Got my second chapter up, 3rd Chapter about 80% complete)
http://www3.sympatico.ca/daniel876/homepage.html

Then again, any character at level 1 with their starting equipment could theorically breeze through the game. The chances of being missed every round in battle are phenomenally slim, though. They're still there, just... slim.

I view Gau as more of an "advanced" character than the others because characters like, say, Sabin require very little tactic. Bum rush, bum rush, bum rush. Characters like, say, Mog or Gau require you to decide a little bit longer on what you intend to do to win the battle because they don't have ultimate attacks. One rage could be ideal for a given situation whereas it would blow chunks the next. You need a little more forethought and experience with the game to succeed.

In terms of raw power in a character vs. character battle, Gau certainly wouldn't be the best. He's likely to pull off a useless attack or one that isn't too damaging while another character would be using Ultima or Grand Train, etc. But when you can breeze through the game slinging high-level spell after high-level spell and without making decisions in battle anymore, it's time for something a little more challenging.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Gau is one of my favorite characters and almost always in my party, his rages have more or less saved me many times and he rarely dies. The only down side to Gau is getting all the rages, though I've had every rage I've not at the same time. As for what Djibriel said about a level 1 Gau hypotheticaly being able to defeat Kefka, I feel this may be true because playing through without exp. Gau is the only char that does real damage.

Well, Gau is only useful until the WoR, at which point you get equipment and espers that'll put him to shame. Even at level 7, economizer + Ultima + gem box == the big hurt.

But for the first half of the game, he's vital. Vital I tells ya!

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Alright I should probably ask this now. Which of the rages are considered the best? If he is vital as you put it Silverlance then I would assume that his best rages would come from the WoB no doubt. I never find myself in a situation where my party can't handle a battle with ease. There may be exception to this, be it Brachosaur or what have you. But as I said before I'm not one to attempt low level challenges because I know the game wouldn't be as fun for me if I'm running from every battle.

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This is my world: (Got my second chapter up, 3rd Chapter about 80% complete)
http://www3.sympatico.ca/daniel876/homepage.html

I dont know about all this "Gau is the greatest" stuff.

But I will say that his value is high in the WOB because of :
a) his starting stats are higher than everyone elses.
and b) he has access to L2 - level spells / attacks sooner than anyone else.
So this makes him useful in many situations in the beginning of the game.
Templar's Fire2, Vomammoth's Blizzard and Hazer's Bolt2 are available from the beginning of the game almost. Pretty good deal for 0 MP. You can also do Pterodon during some lamo encounter, gain the FLOAT status, and it will be permanent. So there are some nice bonuses that Gau brings to the table early. But I wouldnt go so far as to say he is the best character or most powerful even during WOB.

This post has been edited by Detah on 21st January 2005 20:32

Quote (Djibriel @ 21st January 2005 08:16)

Speaking as somebody who has written a document on the Rage skill over 300 kB large, I think I can safely say that the Rage skill is the best skill in the game.

But here's the set-back. It takes time to get Rages, and you have to know what you're doing.

His strenght is pretty much a direct result of the amount of time you're willing to invest in him and your general knowledge of the game.

You're one of many hardcore FF fans I've heard speak of the greatness of Gau. However, the reasons you listed are exactly the reasons I've never found him appealing.

There are essentially only two ways to learn about rages. The first is to read a FAQ such as your own that documents all of them. However, I have never been a fan of FAQs or walkthroughs, even if I've played the game multiple times. I'll glimpse through them occasionally to learn about sidequests or challenges. For the most part, though, I prefer to learn about the game, and especially the characters and their abilities, through practice and experimentation.

And that's the second way to learn about the rages: trial and error. Unfortunately, I just don't have the patience for leaping on the Veldt, nor do I have the patience to sit through multiple battles trying to learn what each rage does as there are so many of them. Honestly, I think I would take the time if I cared more about Gau as a character, but I just don't.

Maybe one day I'll come around to Gau and take the time to learn about him. I've tried in the past and I've just given up. Likewise, I think that's what will happen this playthrough.

That he can kill Kefka on lv. 1 is really interesting though. Can you elaborate on that a little more?

This post has been edited by KefkaLives on 21st January 2005 23:12

Quote (KefkaLives @ 21st January 2005 17:10)

That he can kill Kefka on lv. 1 is really interesting though. Can you elaborate on that a little more?

NightShade Rage. Once Gau casts Charm and hits Kefka, Kefka will proceed to attack himself to death. He'll never touch Gau beyond the initial Fallen One, if that.

Gau could be LV. 0 for all that matters; if he has NightShade against a single enemy with insufficient M.Block, Gau will always have a chance to win.

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The Unoriginal White Sheet

-Master ZED

Let's not get into another debate regarding who's the best character in battle and how Gau relates to the issue. We've already exhausted that and the conclusion is that there is no clear answer. It all depends on how you look at it.

Well here's my attempt at a comparison between Gau fans and the haters :

Haters...

• lack patience for exploring the full potential of a complex character
• claim they MUST control all four characters even though the same commands are often repeated a hundred times in a row anyway (memory cursor anyone?)
• must use characters who get a lot of attention in the story
• find kids annoying because they're too busy trying to be "grown-up"

Fans...

• have patience and enjoy the full potential of a complex character
• can happily focus on three characters, either (1) knowing how tedious it is controlling all four (the haters somehow have the patience for this) or (2) are just simply willing to compromise a little control for a lot of power
• find the good in characters who don't get much attention in the story
• know how to lighten up and be youthful

I'm trying to spawn better explanations as to why people don't like him. It's ok if you don't, just prove you're not somehow biased. Many of these "reasons" are silly and trivial.

This post has been edited by i90east on 22nd January 2005 01:04

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

NightShade's Charm is one way, but that's the cheap way out.

Raging Magic Urn and intelligently switching between running and hurting can win the day (credit goes to assassin on this one, he figured it out over a year ago). I have to admit that any character with 128 % Mblock can do the same, but Gau's version of doing things is not as much depending on equipment and therefore superior to the others.

Edit

To ever-so-slightly defend my statement, I want to say that with Rage comes more then just a 50% chance at good offense. You gain elemental properties, status immunities, inherent statuses. While the entire party is spazzing out for, say, Air Force its WaveCannon, Gau simply has to be Raging Vaporite, Rhinotaur, Rhinox or Intangir to simply absorb the attack. Ing + Wall Ring is more likely to single-handedly win a battle against AtmaWeapon then to lose. And as soon as we hit the WoR and monster start to become generally more intersting, he can usually adept so easily to the battle that he can hardly lose.

IIRC, there are about four boss battles in the WoR that a lvl. 1 Gau could *not* get a guaranteed victory for, provided he has the right Rage.

This post has been edited by Djibriel on 22nd January 2005 01:20

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The Collapse of Heaven and Earth

I'm guessing you fall on the fan side i90.

I'm not sure what you mean by "not being biased." If you have an opinion about him one way or the other you're showing bias. I mean, you're obviously biased in favor. Your post describes fans as "patient" and able to "lighten up" while those that dislike him only do so for "silly and trivial" reasons. I think that's a bit unfair. Those of us that don't have the patience for Gau might have the paitence for many other aspects of the game. It doesn't mean we hate kids either. I, for one, love Relm.

Anyway, I agree with you the topic is beaten to death. Feeling one way or the other doesn't make you good or bad, just different.

Quote (KefkaLives)

I'm not sure what you mean by "not being biased." If you have an opinion about him one way or the other you're showing bias.

I'm talking about negative bias in this instance. What I mean is putting aside the negative presuppositions which most likely have a weak basis.

Quote (KefkaLives)

Your post describes fans as "patient" and able to "lighten up" while those that dislike him only do so for "silly and trivial" reasons. I think that's a bit unfair. Those of us that don't have the patience for Gau might have the paitence for many other aspects of the game.

My last post is leaning in favor of Gau because I'm looking for reaction from the other side with more descriptive explanations. Why is not controlling Gau such a bad thing? Why would you have less patience for Gau and more patience towards other things? Why is Gau a bad character for not getting a lot of story attention?

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

Quote (i90east @ 21st January 2005 21:31)

Why is not controlling Gau such a bad thing? Why would you have less patience for Gau and more patience towards other things? Why is Gau a bad character for not getting a lot of story attention?

I can only speak for myself, and my earlier posts address those questions. But basically it's just a matter of preference. As you mentioned above, there is no clear answer as to who the "best" character is. Different things will appeal to different people.

Basically to me, using Gau is like using autobattle. I didn't get the game so I could sit around and watch the battle do itself. Knowing I could basically end the final battle by using just Mog, Umaro and Gau simply by putting in two commands (one for Gau and Mog respectively). So what I could do is sit the controller on the ground, hop on my computer and do some homework while the battle plays itself out. Hmm... no thanks.

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This is my world: (Got my second chapter up, 3rd Chapter about 80% complete)
http://www3.sympatico.ca/daniel876/homepage.html

There's nothing that says you have to put Gau, Mog, Umaro and even Gogo all in the same party. Gau does not rob you control over the game. There's still three other characters, just like what you have in FFVII all the time. So you're saying that battles become too boring if even one of your four characters attacks automatically?

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

I think it's more a matter of principle. That's akin to saying, "Well, sure, you just lost your right arm, but three of your four limbs work just fine and you can live without one of 'em!" The typical battle in FF3e involves four characters controlled by a human player: any of them can be "stopped" and used to feed someone an ether or whatever when the battle takes an unexpected turn. With Gau raging, you end up fighting a battle with only three actual characters and an extra damage-dealer, which restricts your strategy a lot. Seeing as you can't stop Gau short of killing him, this kinda reduces his usefulness considerably in a "normal" fight.

This post has been edited by Silverlance on 23rd January 2005 01:32

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Actually, a normal fight is where Gau excels. It's the strange ones (ex. Wrexsoul) and the hacked ones (just pick one) where he tends to be downright abysmal.

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The Unoriginal White Sheet

-Master ZED