Speedy, Polly, Guido, and Balance.

[KyoZaber]

A little discussion I thought I'd stir up tonight.

I've been thinking a little latey about how each of the cats are balanced out stats wise. You know, kind of like in an RPG.

In an RPG you've always got your characters that are great in a brawl, but lack the finesse of characters with spells.
You've got characters with spells, yet they cry their eyes out when they're pinched.
And finally you've got characters that are equally balanced.

... Well... Sometimes you even have more than 3 categories... I just don't know what else to list at the moment. ^^;

The way I've got our 3 main cats figured out is this...

-Polly's a strength-based fighter.-
  I'm basing this off of the fact that she beats the snot out of anything that makes her upset. While she does have her special abilities, she doesn't seem to have as much magic or tricks that Speedy & Guido have.

-Speedy's a Wizzard.-
 Yeah, I know he gets beat up alot & shows signs of strength... However he does have moments where he is bested by Polly with little or no problem. He bests Polly & Guido with the fact that he's able to perform his special Cat's-Eye-Slash many times depending on the situation.

-And Guido... Is balanced... I think...-
 Unfortunately Guido shows neither the super strength of Polly, nor the ability to use his own sword technique many times over. However he does make up for it by aiding the others in varied ways. He has decent strength to keep fighting the ninja crows, and he's able to perform multiple techniques with his umbrella.


-Soo... What're your thoughts on this "theory" if you will?
Could the classes be a little more specific? Maybe I'm thinking too much about a dinky little thing. ^^;
It is late afterall...

[Guido64380]

You, sir, have made an interesting topic.

Whenever I think of balancing fighting stats and styles I like to make sets of three. Sonic heroes/riders players should note that speed-power-fly is such a triangle thing. The way I look at it is that each "character" majors on one, does ok in another and not so good in a third. before I start going on and on about this i'll just list what I think applies to the cats.

Power-Speed-Technique
Melee-Ranged-Magic
Offensive-Defensive-Effective (status effects and such)

-Speedy's a Speed-Technique/Melee-Magic/Pure Offensive style fighter. He uses a flury of fast attacks with fairly good swordsmanship, he mostly uses his sword but his cat's eye slash is the most powerful of the groups and he isn't too defensive in nature (OHKOd by frying pan) and I can't recall any time he's used status effect moves

-Polly's a Power-Speed/Melee-Ranged/Offensive-Effective. She uses her claws to take out multiple opponents in one swipe as well as her massive attacks on the guys using kitchen objects. When she's not clawing away she uses those heart things to hit or stun and can use that charm move to stun/attract opponents into range.

-Guido's a Pure Technique/Magic-Ranged/Effective-Defensive kinda guy. He does good damage with his umbrella but he uses it mostly as a kind of  mage-like tool, blinding, hypnotising and binding his opponents with it. He also used kunai against the Cheese's speakers in "No talent Guido"

So, thats what I think about their styles, although I'll probably find myself explaining this way of looking at it to someone/everyone

[Takila]

If not spells, they at least have 'limit breaks' somewhat like those in Final Fantasy (and swords!).  I will address them as such.

More specifically, I'd see Polly as a monk.  She is designed to deal damage skillfully with her strength, whereas fighters are designed as damage absorbers.

From a RPG perspective, Speedy is set up as a character adept at fighting other major characters.  He excels at precision and agility based combat, rather than Polly's brute strength.  From a Final Fantasy perspective, Speedy would be somewhere between a ninja (no surprise there) and a Samurai (bet you saw that one coming).  His 'limit' attacks would be a level higher than Guido's/Polly's.  From a D&D perspective, Speedy would be a mix of rogue and fighter, with many ranks in parry.  (WoW wise, he'd be a pre-1.10 Shaman  .)

I'll admit that Guido doesn't fall into any traditional category.  He ends up as a mish mash of Speedy's roguish style, with far more invested in his personality and charisma.  Very little of this comes through, as he tries to go where his stats wont support him (he fails ALL his persuade checks).  I'd say that he (D&D) is a rogue that invests more of himself in Charisma, Persuade, and such skills that will further him outside of combat.

They all follow the same general path, but diverge further down the line.

As for other characters:

Bad Bird:  Final Fantasy wise, he'd be a Ninja/Dark Knight.  Overall, he'd be oriented as a more ruthless and evil version of Speedy (with a greater focus in Intimidation.)

Lucille: Hard one to pick, but Lucile ends up as a summoner.  She can 'Summon' and incredibly powerful swarm of missles, but few times each day.

Francine: A bard, using song/poems to inspire and empower the cats. 

General Catton: a fighter specializing in damage reduction and good against mobs of less powerful enemies.  He also has some parts as a item based mage, using the cannonballs of his cannons to deal damage.

Meowsma: A druid/Geomancer (which I post with reluctance). He is more attuned and at home with the earth, and is able to use it.  He can manipulate the landscape around him, and use the Druid's traditional cyclone.

Spritz T. Cat: A hydromancer, and the only true 'caster' of the cats. 

Bat Cat: In Final Fantasy, he'd be a lancer. Uses the 'Jump' skill.

Jerry:   The closest that I could get with him would be a meditator.  Uses the 'Talk Skill'.

For a villain, the Seymour would be a well underpowered Kefka.  Dresses funny and commands through fear and intimidation.

The Catatonic: Holy Swordsman all the way.  People that have played Final Fantasy Tactics will know of what I speak.

...

So now that I've shown myself as a FF/RPG nut, I'd say that you were fairly accurate.

[Mechadon]

I like to think of it in terms of weapon selection in Halo.

Speedy would have a Battle Rifle and a Plasma Sword. (Standard Assault)
Polly would have a Shotgun and a Sniper Rifle. (Close and Long-Range Support)
Guido would have an SMG and a Rocket Launcher. (Special Support)

With the SMG, Guido can use the Dual Wielding feature to modify his tactics to better suit the situation.