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So I just recently bought the original cartridge of FF3(6) for my SNES for about $90 with the box. I'm been playing through it for the 30th time (I cant remember ') and have found that Gau can be really helpful, and also a powerhouse. I can do about 3000 damage before the floating continant on a single foe at around level 25, with the Aspik Rage doing Giga Volt. Minus the fact that you cant control him, this seems to even the odds. So I us him as much as possible, anyone else?

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You Can't Escape...
Nowhere to run...
Nowhere to hide...

I used to like Gau, if only for his personality.

But as time wore on, I found him to be the most useless character in the game. Getting the decent rages takes so much time that once you acquire them, they are overshadowed the the rest of the levelled-up party members. The rages in question are useless once you can gain them. Many of the rages are totally useless, and offer nothing but a weak skill or glorified regular attack.

Even overlooked skills like sketch/control and dance are more useful. While you can't control Mog's dance moves after choosing the set, the dance skills are very handy. And while Umaro is beyond control, his strength greatly makes up for it.

So I voted "no".

I love his Rage ability, and in most cases, the game is easy enough that I don't actually need controllability all that badly.

And it lets me basically get lots of very powerful magic spells for free. Free Life3 from Rhodox, anyone?

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 25th May 2009 15:45)

I love his Rage ability, and in most cases, the game is easy enough that I don't actually need controllability all that badly.

And it lets me basically get lots of very powerful magic spells for free. Free Life3 from Rhodox, anyone?

I agree. And I love his character just enough to not care how useful he is. To me, his story is really touching, so that's what I care about.

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Praise Be To Helix!

I love Gau; that said, I dislike Rage. Control is a factor, but not the only one. Many of the rages are near-worthless, some of them completely worthless. I will say the perfectionist in me loves getting all the rages (the perfectionist in me is also annoyed because I spend all this time tracking them down only to not use them--though, that's my own perogative, clearly).

Quote (Kane @ 25th May 2009 19:20)

Many of the rages are near-worthless, some of them completely worthless.

Plus, there are way too many. I usually pick one, but it's not really worth it. I don't think he is worth while as a fighter, but he is a worth while character.

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Praise Be To Helix!

The key to using his rages effectively is learning which few are good. For example, after the grand train event, you can get Ghost and the cat creatures that are nearby (sorry im drawing a blank). Both do great damage early on. I'll have to play through again to get my list of rages.

The real trick is knowing which ones to use, and going to get those as soon after fighting the enemies as possible. I don't know if anyone has exact numbers, but personal experience has shown me that you are more likely to fight the desired enemies if they are the newest encounters.

I posted this on another thread, but to reiterate, White Dragon owns.

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think you're a true rp dork - try it live action shifted lands

Quote (r_c_cola2001 @ 25th May 2009 19:23)

The key to using his rages effectively is learning which few are good. For example, after the grand train event, you can get Ghost and the cat creatures that are nearby (sorry im drawing a blank). Both do great damage early on. I'll have to play through again to get my list of rages.

The real trick is knowing which ones to use, and going to get those as soon after fighting the enemies as possible. I don't know if anyone has exact numbers, but personal experience has shown me that you are more likely to fight the desired enemies if they are the newest encounters.

I posted this on another thread, but to reiterate, White Dragon owns.

I believe you where looking for "Stray Cats" : P.

Also, once your on the Veldt, keep a look out for the Aspik. when used, theres a %50 chance that he will use Giga Volt,, which even though it is a weaker version of Bolt 3, is still friggen effective for the entire world of balance.

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You Can't Escape...
Nowhere to run...
Nowhere to hide...

Ahhh... I'm not going to vote, agreed with most of the comments in here, I like Gau as a character, but dislike rages. Even if you know the Velt's formations pattern it takes ages to get the nicer ones, and the no-control thing also gets on my nerves. But if you manage to pass trough that he is a powerhouse.

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"Love, and do what you will" Saint Augustine

It takes a lot of effort to learn the attributes of every useful Rage (elemental properties, status immunities, what spell he can cast). If you don't want to spend tons of time researching the lists and picking the best Rage for each situation, then Gau is going to consistently underpreform. If you DO want to put in that effort, however, then Gau will be one of your top 4 characters and therefore will be in your party for every fight, even if you want to discount the incredibly cheesy Nightshade Rage (which is an automatic win against any opponent in the game including final Kefka)

First few times I played through the game, I thought Gau sucked and didn't bother with him. For my most recent game, however, I put in the time studying Djibriel's Rage Guide and the properties of each boss I was about to face. As a result, Gau was my most powerful char in the WoB and noone surpassed him until I had someone with a Gem Box on them.

**For the entire pre-Tritoch portion of the game, Gau has access to more powerful spells than others. He can learn Bolt2 and Fire2 as soon as you get him, which is far sooner than any other character can cast level 2 spells. By the time your other characters can learn level 2 spells, Gau can be raging for Giga Volt and Elf Fire, which are both stronger than a level 2 spell. When you get Tritoch, obviously, then every other character catches up to Gau.

**If an enemy is weak to Air, Water or Earth, then there's not much that the other character can do early on to exploit it, but Gau can learn Aqua Rake, Wind Slash and Quake almost right away.

** You can almost always find a rage that grants immunity/absorption to the element a certain boss casts and immunity to any status ailment the boss uses, while at the same time hitting that boss' weakness. This is very convenient, especially because you don't have to equip a certain relic or armor to get that immunity.

Well, Kayeto, I disagree--even if you don't pay attention to all his details, the fact that he has access to a large repertoire of powerful spells and techniques makes him very useful even without knowing exact elemental/status properties.

Also, he doesn't just get Quake, he also gets to use Magnitude8, which is a targeted earth-element spell. Along with Wind Slash, Giga Volt, and lots of other blue-magic (notice the color of the casting aura) spells that Strago can't learn, Gau gets to use an ENORMOUS repertoire of abilities.

And for free, too. Along with Bolt3, Ice3, Fire3, Life3, Cure3, Step Mine, and all the awesome spells you can normally get yourself.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 26th May 2009 23:25

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 26th May 2009 23:24)

Also, he doesn't just get Quake, he also gets to use Magnitude8, which is a targeted earth-element spell.  Along with Wind Slash, Giga Volt, and lots of other blue-magic (notice the color of the casting aura) spells that Strago can't learn, Gau gets to use an ENORMOUS repertoire of abilities.

Yeah, but where are they? I could find them on that list even if you told me where to look. I can't use those abilities if I don't know where they are. Plus, I have to stick with just one during a battle.

This post has been edited by BlitzSage on 27th May 2009 13:35

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Praise Be To Helix!

OK this may seem weird but... I killed Ultima Weapon (or Atma on NES)
With Edgar, Celes, Gau, and Shadow. Gua was using the "Stray Cat" Rage. It it REALLY powerful when he used "Catscratch". he was doing like at least 1500 at the time.

Then Edgar with Chainsaw,Celes healing and absorbing Ultima's powerful magic...And Shadow....threw stuff...

This post has been edited by Bilbo T Baggins on 27th May 2009 15:49

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u c wut i did ther?

Alright, so the name is beating me again, but its one of the Gigas enemies you fight that gives you magnitude8. It may be the Hadesgigas that you fight in Zozo in WoB that gives it to you. If not, its one of the same type.

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think you're a true rp dork - try it live action shifted lands

Quote (Bilbo T Baggins @ 27th May 2009 15:44)

OK this may seem weird but... I killed Ultima Weapon (or Atma on NES)
With Edgar, Celes, Gau, and Shadow. Gua was using the "Stray Cat" Rage. It it REALLY powerful when he used "Catscratch". he was doing like at least 1500 at the time.

Then Edgar with Chainsaw,Celes healing and absorbing Ultima's powerful magic...And Shadow....threw stuff...

The Stray Cat rage seems to be the best, or the most popular.

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Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (r_c_cola2001 @ 27th May 2009 10:28)

Alright, so the name is beating me again, but its one of the Gigas enemies you fight that gives you magnitude8. It may be the Hadesgigas that you fight in Zozo in WoB that gives it to you. If not, its one of the same type.

Hades Gigas does indeed allow you to use Magnitude8.

Quote (r_c_cola2001 @ 27th May 2009 18:28)

Alright, so the name is beating me again, but its one of the Gigas enemies you fight that gives you magnitude8. It may be the Hadesgigas that you fight in Zozo in WoB that gives it to you. If not, its one of the same type.

I beleive your thinking of the Hill Gigas (in GBA version) and yes, its in Zozo. When i first saw it i nearly soiled myself...

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u c wut i did ther?

Quote (Bilbo T Baggins @ 28th May 2009 00:08)

Quote (r_c_cola2001 @ 27th May 2009 18:28)

Alright, so the name is beating me again, but its one of the Gigas enemies you fight that gives you magnitude8.  It may be the Hadesgigas that you fight in Zozo in WoB that gives it to you.  If not, its one of the same type.

I beleive your thinking of the Hill Gigas (in GBA version) and yes, its in Zozo. When i first saw it i nearly soiled myself...

That's one of my favorite monsters of the game. So his rage is Mag8?

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Praise Be To Helix!

Gau? He's adorable! I love him.
And he's been pretty useful to me in battle. The only thing I don't like about him is that once he does a rage he can't do anything else like use items.
But he's one of the cutest and funniest characters whether or not he's a good fighter!

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-dysFUNctional-

for most of the early game all the way through the Magi-tek lab, I use Gau to great effect- the bomb rage primarily for use of "blaze," which I find to be extremely useful, with it's multi-targeting and the weakness of most bosses to fire in this time- see: Ultros, The thing at the end of the mine cart, Shiva, and that one Crane Kefka calls on you. Granted Ifrit and the other Crane are absorbent, Shiva and If share health, so one or two shots to her ends the battle, and the crane is wicked easy anyway.

Following this, Gau becomes a bit less useful, but not terribly, especially as his MAG power seems to be naturally very high, and, for straight up physical attacks, Stray Cat does take the cake. But I can also see why one might drop him.

This post has been edited by MogMaster on 28th May 2009 16:43

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If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

Quote (BlitzSage @ 27th May 2009 09:34)

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 26th May 2009 23:24)

Also, he doesn't just get Quake, he also gets to use Magnitude8, which is a targeted earth-element spell.  Along with Wind Slash, Giga Volt, and lots of other blue-magic (notice the color of the casting aura) spells that Strago can't learn, Gau gets to use an ENORMOUS repertoire of abilities.

Yeah, but where are they? I could find them on that list even if you told me where to look. I can't use those abilities if I don't know where they are. Plus, I have to stick with just one during a battle.

Well, it's a matter of memorizing monster names.

Granted, in a very disorganized list.

See, that's the ONE problem with Gau, from a gameplay perspective--you can't (at least in the SNES version; I'm not familiar with any others) actually sort his rages into any organized fashion, and you just kinda have to go search through the list until you find it, and try to remember where things are.

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Well, luckily for me I have this weird habit of memorizing the amount of time I have to hold the down arrow for. Dunno where it came from, but I can almost always stop directly on the rage/spell/other that I need without thought.

Perhaps we should get a group of people willing to gather all Gau's rages, and make a list on here of all of them and what they do? I know for a fact my cousin will help collect. Guys got more patience for grinding than any 5 other people I know.

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think you're a true rp dork - try it live action shifted lands

IIRC there's actually been a topic about that before. I remember posting in it.

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Quote (r_c_cola2001 @ 29th May 2009 11:23)

Perhaps we should get a group of people willing to gather all Gau's rages, and make a list on here of all of them and what they do? I know for a fact my cousin will help collect. Guys got more patience for grinding than any 5 other people I know.

I'd reckon most of what you are looking for is probably right here:

http://tenchinohoukai.cavesofnarshe.com/fi..._iii_rage_a.txt

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I just spend about two hours reading that.

Thanks, R51.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure there's been a thread on this forum asking what are the most useful rages. And I've posted a list.

Of course, that guide kinda does answer the question, and like five million more questions.

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

I found out how useful catscratch was before CoN and use him all the time. Experimenting with new rages is fun if you have the patience to hunt for them.

Quote (BlitzSage @ 28th May 2009 01:31)

Quote (Bilbo T Baggins @ 28th May 2009 00:08)

Quote (r_c_cola2001 @ 27th May 2009 18:28)

Alright, so the name is beating me again, but its one of the Gigas enemies you fight that gives you magnitude8.  It may be the Hadesgigas that you fight in Zozo in WoB that gives it to you.  If not, its one of the same type.

I beleive your thinking of the Hill Gigas (in GBA version) and yes, its in Zozo. When i first saw it i nearly soiled myself...

That's one of my favorite monsters of the game. So his rage is Mag8?

Yes, the Hill Gigas Rage is Magnitude 8.





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u c wut i did ther?

I'm to lazy to put the effort into getting rages. I like Gau's story, but after that, he just kinda sits around for the rest of the game in my alternate characters. I still think he's 1 step higher then Relm though.

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"And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped” -Sir Bedevere the Wise

Quote (Bilbo T Baggins @ 31st May 2009 14:30)

Quote (BlitzSage @ 28th May 2009 01:31)

Quote (Bilbo T Baggins @ 28th May 2009 00:08)

Quote (r_c_cola2001 @ 27th May 2009 18:28)

Alright, so the name is beating me again, but its one of the Gigas enemies you fight that gives you magnitude8.  It may be the Hadesgigas that you fight in Zozo in WoB that gives it to you.  If not, its one of the same type.

I beleive your thinking of the Hill Gigas (in GBA version) and yes, its in Zozo. When i first saw it i nearly soiled myself...

That's one of my favorite monsters of the game. So his rage is Mag8?

Yes, the Hill Gigas Rage is Magnitude 8.

Both HadesGigas (the colored version in Zozo, apparently called Hill Gigas in FF6a) and Gigantos (the brown monster-in-a-box on the floating continent) have rages with Magnitude8. I think the latter has slightly superior statuses/resistances, if I recall correctly from that Rage guide.

Of course, though, you encounter Gigantos far, far later in the WoB.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 31st May 2009 21:28

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 31st May 2009 21:27)

Of course, though, you encounter Gigantos far, far later in the WoB.

So, if he has better stats, the rage is stronger? I thought that was completely dependant on Gau.

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Praise Be To Helix!