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Zounds Charles, I hath discovered a new continent!

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This debate would be Shinon vs. Tauroneo, good chap. You'll be defending Shinon, and I shall defend our good friend Tauroneo.

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Ooh I say, jolly good show! Absolutely top hole stats all round, what what?

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Shinon, poor chap, seems to have suffered a severe knock to the head. He’s frightfully behind in a lot of stats, despite having had several more levels to grow.

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Shinon does have some awfully decent growths, though. Let’s have a look.

HP: 75
Str: 65
Mag: 20
Skl: 70
Spd: 65
Def: 50
Res: 40
Luk: 35

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Well, I say old bean, those do look rather good! At this point, old chap, I would expect you to bring up Shinon being totally resistant to RNG rape.

Awfully sorry good fellow, but I must disagree with you there. It’s undeniable that Shinon’s growths are absolutely spiffing, but it’s also undeniable that his base stats compared to his level are frightfully poor. I’m afraid that from this I must conclude that Shinon is the exact opposite of RNG safe. No, dear fellow, Shinon relies on his growths to keep him in tip top shape, what what? That means that if he has frightfully bad luck and has some bad level ups, his averages will suffer.

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However, with my good friend Tauroneo, you can throw him into one of the end game chapters at his base level (actually quite true old bean, I tried this for myself in chapter 28), and still have him come out not too much worse for wear. I say, isn’t that astounding?

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Shinon is also frightfully annoying in the fact that he actually leaves you! Just think of that, old bean, one of your closest allies, just leaving! How does that make you feel? Not only that, but his young student Rolf (awfully nice boy, you really should meet him sometime) joins you for dinner a few chapters later, and then by the time Shinon is invited back again, Rolf has done an awfully good job of surpassing him.

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Tauroneo is a rather nice chap, if I do say so. After learning that Ike is the son of his old friend Gawain, he joins your party for a spot of tea and stays with you for the rest of the game! Isn’t that jolly nice of him?

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You’ll have to excuse me for this rather short post, good fellows. I’m off for some tea and crumpets. *tips hat* Good day, old chap.

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So which vagabond named it Tellius, eh, what? Confounded ridiculous name if you ask me.

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Right you are, m'gel, and a fine show this should be too.

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Erm, harrumph, I beg to differ. See here, I'd hardly describe thirteen speed at level fourteen promoted as anything but below par, eh? Speed being one of the most important stats and all that, what?

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I say, there's a dagger in my back and no mistake. I'm forced to agree with you that Tauroneo's stats are superior here.

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Haha, you don't say! They do look rather splendid, if I do say so myself.

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Eh? It seems to me that your statement, gel, is rather flawed. How bad the chap's bases are has no relevance to how safe he is from the old random number generator.

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That depends solely, I say solely, on the growths in question, which as you kindly pointed out, are rather stellar.

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He depends on them to make him a good character, I feel inclined to agree with that. But how safe he is from losing out, as I said, does not relate to his bases at all, eh, what?

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I say, jolly good wheeze. It must've been quite a blast to see him weathering the assault of the [size=-5]french [/size]foes and handing the damage back to them, what?

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The one hole in this otherwise rather splendid plan is that it's simply not cricket.

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It's rather unfair to send the geezer into the enemies without giving anyone else a shot, wouldn't you say?

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Seems to me like the gent is a bit of a glory-snatcher if that's what he's doing, eh?

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Yes, I must agree that it's a rather inconsiderate thing the fellow does in deserting you like that. However, as for Shinon and his student, they actually offer each other a little assistance, don't you know, in an awfully decent teacher and pupil relationship. Merely a 5% critical boost, but it does get them along nicely, especially with that added bonus of 15% that the sniper class is party to.

Wind x Thunder

 

C
+2 Hit
+5 Avoid

B
+1 Def
+5 Hit
+10 Avoid

A
+1 Def
+7 Hit
+15 Avoid

Tauroneo’s rather spiffing bonuses from supports

what

+2 Def
+12 Hit
+25 Avoid

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Now Tauroneo, whilst being awfully decent, also has a couple of chaps competing for his spot. Whilst neither of them are anywhere near as gentlemanly as his good self, they're both really quite nice alternatives to the chap.

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Gatrie, Shinon's boon companion, is another of those fellows that leaves you for a short while. However, his stats are rather nice, and I must say that Tauroneo finds some pretty strong competition in this man.

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Brom is the other chap you might take as an alternative. Now, imagine this, a fine gentleman like Tauroneo being replaced by a bumpkin like Brom - who is also a yank! The problem is that the man also has some rather admirable statistics, and we're not about to deny someone of that calibur entry to the ranks simply because he's from across the confounded ocean, it's simply not the done thing.

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Whilst we're discussing competition, I'd rather like to point out that neither Gatrie nor Brom are in the "low-tier" list devised by the King's Advisor Marcus and his assistants, who are considered rather knowledgable on these matters. Our gentleman friend is.

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Ashnard: Is that you, Tauroneo? As I thought... You betrayed me after all.
[Listed as Tauroneo’s line on Serenes Forest, but I think it’s a mistake and is in fact Ashnard’s line]...In my father's time, there was a man who was one of the Four Steadfast Riders. That man grew old and useless, and retired from the front lines. How does his story end, you ask? Come, let us write it together.
Tauroneo: Oh, my king... In all of Daein's history, perhaps no other ruler has used the talents at his command to the degree you have... But all the same, no other king has chosen a path so incredibly stupid.
Ashnard: Heh heh heh... Will history judge me to be just or evil? We will not know until all of this is finished.
Tauroneo: ...Now that I've confronted you and traded words with you, I have come to a decision. Throughout Daein, I, Tauroneo, will be known as the king killer. Come! Let me earn my name!

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Lack a day, so is Shinon! But fear not, for he was evidently such an inadequate teacher that his pupil got landed in low tier as well! Haw haw haw, I rather like that! Shows just how confounded clever the chap is, using his own weakness to hold those that might pose a threat to his position back.

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I say, no relation to the Gawain, as in Sir Gawain from the legend of the Green Knight, is he? That would be a rather excellent boon for Tauroneo, but alas, tracing bold Sir Gawain's family tree, I can see no links to the land of Tellius there.

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Rather, gel. Two sugars and just a dash of milk for me, please.

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Now, as I seem to have landed m'self centrestage, I suppose I should provide some mild entertainment while my jolly feminine co-actor fetches the refreshments, hm? So let us move onto companionship, or supports I believe is the politically correct term for it nowadays. I always thought we should have kept the monarchy in power, what?

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Now, Shinon has some rather entertaining conversations with his comrades, I must say. Not just that, but they do seem to help each other out a great deal. If you check his swift support with his pupil, Rolf, it's beefing up his ability to avoid hits rather massively, and it was actually quite nice already! Gatrie is most likely his other companion, and from that he gets a rather nice bonus to his defensive capabilities. Otherwise, he can support with the jolly Janaff, who gives him a rather excellent perk to defence and avoid also! Seems to me like the chap becomes what we might describe as a "dodge-tank", eh, eh?

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Now Tauroneo vies with my own client for the attentions of young Rolf. However, I assure you that the youngster would rather take his teacher as a support than the gent, primarily because it's quicker, and then again because they can have half of it done at least by the time our old general turns up.

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Tauroneo's only other option is the aptly named Largo. Whilst Largo is a decent character, all well and good, he does come rather late, wouldn't you say? Tauroneo won't be able to count on this chap to beef up his combat abilities for very long at all.

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It does come as rather a surprise that the villainous Shinon benefits himself and others rather more from conversation than our fine gentleman bucko, but lack a day, such is the way of the world these days, what?

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Now, m'gel, I'll leave you with that for now, as it's about the right time for luncheon, so you just come up with a suitable repertoire while I'm away, hm?

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Indeed, eh? We already have several jolly old continents beginning with ‘A’. An ‘A’ name would’ve been much more suitable, what?

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Indeed, you might say that. Tauro, thankfully, is designed to be a tank, and tanks don’t generally double, eh? Our old friend Gatrie averages a rather shocking 13 at 20/14. Even with 5% less in growth, this is rather disappointing when he’s had many more levels to grow, what?

And confound it all, Tauroneo actually joins with a level lead over most, if not all, of the other jolly chaps in your party. A rather generous estimate of 20/6 for Gatrie puts the good fellow at 11 speed . . . shockingly, that’s lower than Tauroneo.

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And in addition, Shinon should actually be rather lower than Tauroneo’s level . . . 20/5 as a generous estimate . . .

(All that statistical jargon goes here)

I say, Shinon’s only lead of Tauroneo is now in speed. Not very good for Shinon if one of his supposed best stats is only 2.6 better than good old Tauro’s, eh?

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Indeed. Jolly good show, what? Even if 20% is wasted in Mag, that’s still absolutely splendid.

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That rather huge Lucia and Stefan comparison in full goes here.

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By your first sentence, I conclude that my point from that paragraph has been acknowledged, so the poor wording on my part can be let slide, what?

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Well, blow me down, I find I must agree - England’s performance in cricket has been frightfully bad as of late, whereas this is the exact opposite, what?

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In normal circumstances, I might very well agree. However, in the chapter I mentioned (that would be 28, good chap), there are plenty of foes to go around. So, Tauro can quite happily batter away at a group of Generals, yet still leave plenty to go around. That’s teamwork, doncha know.

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I say old bean, steady on! Might want to think before you start saying things like that, what? Not good for the ole appearance if you’re proven wrong, eh?

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The entire "Rolf can support with Tauroneo" pish tush goes in here.

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I say old bean, what nonsense! At first sight perhaps this is how it seems, but I know better! Went to school at Eton, doncha know. Jolly good teaching.

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At first glance, it might be easy to say that Gatrie is, indeed, better. However, we can first discount the Skl victory. Neither is going to be missing terribly much, so with such a small difference, we really ought to focus on more important things.

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The speed. Well, dear old Tauro actually has more speed than the fit and sprightly Gatrie. Not only that, Tauro is likely to reach 15 speed - Gatrie, rather disappointingly, is more likely to be stuck on 14. Tauroneo is actually more likely to hit 16 than Gatrie is to hit 15.

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The Mag means more than you might first think as well. Rather splendidly, Tauro ties for the highest Mag on a useable lance user - with the dashing Geoffrey, no less - meaning that the old fellow is actually a rather good candidate for the flame lance! As an extra bonus, it is effective against beast laguz - the chaps with frightfully low Res.

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Res is definitely in Tauroneo’s favour. Whilst Gatrie can make up some of the difference with supports, it should be noted that Tauro also gains Def from supports. Tauro also has a higher growth. How absolutely splendid!

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HP and Def - large differences, granted, but Tauro is certainly not fragile. With supports the old chap is surprisingly tanky despite the difference. If you’d like an example, please allow me to direct you to my previous debate with Hakado and the comparisons with endgame units. I think you’ll find that they rather prove what I’m saying.

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Strength, well, the difference is there. Tauro can’t really do much about it. Rather sadly, he fails to gain attack from supports. However, it is worth mentioning that Tauroneo arrives with an A in both swords and lances! Right off the bat, he can wield any sword or lance (except, of course, PRF and S weaponry, although you can easily have him S swords). Does Gatrie have this option? Alas, I think not.

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The above is, however, failing to take into consideration the rather large period of time when Tauro will have a level lead over Gatrie. The difference will then be much smaller, or in Tauroneo’s favour. I say, bravo old chap, bravo!

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The above also fails to take into consideration one other thing: Resolve.

This top hole skill arrives, free of charge, with Tauroneo - and still leaves room for another skill! Imagine that, Resolve and another skill. I say, what an absolutely splendiferous combination.

Tauroneo - ??/20 - Game Stats
Silver Lance
A Rolf, B Largo (or vice versa)
Resolve Active
HP: 25.8 (at least)
Atk: 52. 95
Hit: 150
Crt: 15.75
AS: 22.2
Def: 27.6
Res: 18.4
Evd: 84.3
CEvd: 14.9

My goodness! Dear lord, look at those stats. That attack means that our dear friend Tauroneo can quite easily OHKO the magicians he sees . . . and not take very much damage anyway with his top hole resistance. Splendid, splendid.

The AS is still lower that some other chaps’, but by George, it’s certainly more than enough to deal with the [size=-5]French bastards![/size] enemy! You see my dear fellow, in the endgame (which we are, of course, talking about at the moment, if we’re using 20/20 statistics) most enemy units have about 18 AS - the exceptions being Swordmasters, Laguz and Ashnard. Not bad if Tauroneo suddenly attacks almost everything on the field twice!

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(and here's the old Brom post)

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Now, even if you, my good fellow, still believe that this yank Brom and the dashing Gatrie are adequate alternatives to Tauroneo . . . it doesn’t matter in the slightest. You see old bean, if Brom and Gatrie are better than Tauroneo, and Tauroneo is better than Shinon, surely the two chaps would replace both Tauroneo and Shinon? So, the issue is still which chap is better: Tauroneo or Shinon.

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(Tauroneo vs Ashnard)

What do we learn from the above? Well, blow me down, Tauroneo was once one of the four riders! Goodness me, aren’t those chaps the four strongest members of the Daein army?

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Tauroneo, jolly good fellow though he may be, isn’t in the spring of his youth, alas. Old age is starting to lessen his abilities. But goodness, if he’s this much of a match for the much younger Gatrie and Brom is his old age, just think what the splendid gentleman would have been like in his youth!

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Alas indeed my good fellow, but fear not! The Gawain of this confounded continent named Tellius is still a rather decent chap, if I do say so myself.

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You’re quite right there, my good chap, and alas I can’t say much else. I would like to remind you, though, that the support with Gatrie doesn’t give much in the way of this ‘avoid’ business - only 7 with an ‘A’ rank - and adds instead to defence. This might seem awfully nice of Gatrie off hand, but ideally Shinon really shouldn’t be needing to take hits anyway, am I correct? The chap does wield a bow, after all, and those things are awfully hard to shoot when you’re close to your opponent, and with him not having another weapon to switch to, it makes it awfully difficult to counter, eh, what?

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Again, you’re quite right old bean. However, it’s awfully lucky that these youngsters nowadays can support with two chaps instead of one, what? Tauroneo is a splendid choice for Rolf’s ‘B’ support, as it were.

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You’ve been nothing but right so far my dear fellow, let’s see if you can keep this up a while longer, what?

Tauroneo, whilst not supporting Largo for long, does become good pals with the jolly chap rather quickly. Not to mention that Largo doesn’t have much else in the way of support options. If Tauroneo wants to be friends with the chap, then he jolly well will be, what? I think the two complement each other rather well, Tauroneo with his solid defence and Largo with his excellent offensive skills, don’t you think, old bean?

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As you say, luncheon awaits. I believe I must depart, with this as my final word. Farewell until my return!

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Be that as it may, I'm afraid that my statement that Tauro's stats are not "top-hole all round" is still correct.

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Well that's one in the eye, eh? I do declare that your deductions are correct.

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I say, your point from that paragraph seems to have been "I’m afraid that from this I must conclude that Shinon is the exact opposite of RNG safe." And yet, nothing that you posted after my own post supports that at all, eh, eh? You agreed with my statement "That depends solely, I say solely, on the growths in question, which as you kindly pointed out, are rather stellar." and so, the point of your first statement has been acknowledged by both our good selves to be an elaborate hoax!

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I say, I rather chuckled at that, but rest assured that I was purely using it as the old English saying, no reference to the abject failure of our lads intended.

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Well, in that case . . . I suppose nearly any character could do the same, what? I had assumed from your statement that your chap was intending to go on a solo run through the chapter, knocking the opponents for six as he went, but as it seems now, it was just a statement that he could go into the chapter and survive! I would jolly well hope that there are rather a lot of characters that can survive against a small bunch of enemies, as otherwise the game would be frightfully difficult, what?

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Frightfully sorry, gel, I get worked into a bit of a blue funk when the old blood is roused, eh? So, prove me wrong.

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Funnily enough, so can Shinon. As even more of a bizzare coincidence, he gives exactly the same stellar boosts as Tauroneo, what? On top, he does it quicker and also gives the youngster a +5 critical bonus, eh, eh? Looks to me like Shinon is rather a better candidate to the post.

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I must just add that I rather chuckled at this. "QUOTE (Tauroneo’s rather spiffing bonuses from supports @ what)" Absolutely top hole, what?

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So did I, and I saw the beaks giving you a jolly good hiding most every day, haw haw haw.

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Harrumph, I rather object to that idea. Discounting any kind of victory is the sort of tomfoolery I'd expect from a yank. Unless it's proven to be completely worthless, saying that it pales into insignificance would be rather more appropriate, eh?

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You do like to mince your words, m'gel. For the impatient readers of this article, what the gel is trying to say is that Tauroneo has, in general, a single point of speed as a victory over Gatrie. The actual difference in their speed stats is 0.3, as you may have seen, but my partner was rather keen to show that there was more to it than that.

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Oh I say, I got rather excited when faced with the prospect of bold Sir Geoffrey charging the foes with a flaming lance, what? As for the point at hand, I'd have to agree that Tauroneo is a better candidiate for the old flame lance than Gatrie.

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Oh no, Tauroneo is most certainly not fragile. Merely easier to kill than Gatrie, which is a point in Gatrie's favour to be sure.

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No, of course not. But I don't really see what the point is in your bringing this up, m'gel. Swords weigh less and are more accurate than lances. Gatrie will easily have reached an A in lances by the time Tauroneo shows up, what?

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Purely power-wise, they are equal in weapons - the more powerful weapons being lances - which leaves Gatrie ahead by a considerable margin owing to his superior statistic, eh?

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Accuracy-wise, as you kindly pointed out, skill is not particulary an issue for either, and Gatrie wins on skill anyway, so if Tauroneo sacrificed power for the sake of accuracy (i.e. switched from lances to swords) the only real difference would be that Gatrie had a greater power lead.

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The weight of weapons is not an issue for either of them, as they're both strong enough to wield their items of destruction without being slowed, eh?

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If your reasoning for bringing this up was WTA, Gatrie will be capable of holding the fort with relatively powerful swords against those dastardly axe users that may try and creep up on him. Even if he is caught unawares without the old weapon triangle advantage, his defence is jolly enough that there's a pretty minimal risk of him dying, eh, what?

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Well, don't these looks so fine, with all those supports and that lovely skill lending them some excellent boosts. However, there's one little issue I must take with this whole thing.

With pre-resolve defensive stats like these (supports included, all stats rounded)
Def: 28
Res: 18
Evd: 70
Crit. Evd: 15

and that rather nice 52 HP average, not that much will actually be taking him down below half HP. In other words, Tauroneo's old resolve will barely ever take effect.

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So whilst I concede that he's perfectly durable and all that, his offense remains inferior to Gatrie's - and when combined with the fact that Gatrie's defence is also totally sufficient, I can only conclude that Gatrie is rather the superior of the pair.

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Once again, resolve won't actually be activating all that often, eh? As about half your reasoning for Tauroneo being superior to Brom seems to centre around resolve, I'll just have a look at their victories m'self . . .

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+ 2.6 HP - Three points of HP isn't too shabby, what?

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+ 1.3 Str - A win for Brom, which increases rather nicely when you add in his supports with Nephenee and Boyd.

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+ 4.6 Skl - Hitting and criticalling more, eh?

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+ 1.9 Spd - Two more points of speed, jolly good.

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+ 3.7 Def - A nice victory for Brom here.

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+ 5.2 Mag - As you say, this is more than it seems - but for the purposes of wielding one lance.

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+ 3.7 Res - I say, same difference as Tauroneo's defence, what? However, as we both know, defence is much more important than resistance.

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+ 4.7 Luk - When you consider that Brom wins in skill and speed, and neither of them will really be suffering criticals (or from them, owing to good defence), this lead is not so spectacular.

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I say, I can't remember us coming to a conclusion that Tauroneo was better than Shinon, eh, what? Save that for later, m'gel.

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I got a rather strange sensation of deja vu then, as that's a rather similar scenario to something I have planned for any fools attempting a Shinon and Rolf comparison. Anyhow, I admit that what I said there was merely a comment, not intended to have much significance in the debate proper.

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Ah yes, the joys of reminiscience. However, he's not in his youth in this game, although I believe we do get a flashback as to what he would have been when he activates resolve.

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Unfortunately, this is a rare occurence, so old man Tauroneo continues his quiet existance for most of the game.

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If you put Gatrie and a couple of other chaps in front of Shinon, they effectively provide a wall for the archers. Not only does this provide a rather good shield for Shinon (and his student Rolf, who should be close by for support purposes) but it also means that thanks to his handy provoke skill, the foes will be directing their ranged attacks at him - whilst the one-rangers will be running slap bang into Gatrie and the other chaps in their clumsy efforts to get around. Now, those ranged chappies won't really be doing much against Shinon with say, these defensive stats (??/10, by which time he should have A Rolf B Gatrie, rounded stats):

HP: 39
Evd: 70
Def: 17
Res: 13

Defensive stats which, really, are fine for all purposes Shinon may be used in, eh?

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This jolly provoke skill comes in rather useful earlygame as well. There are numerous occasions where you may need to lure enemies away from a weakened unit, and Shinon is just the job. Very few enemies can cause him decent damage earlygame, and so he does, despite leaving, play a useful role there as well.

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Well, I suppose . . . although Mist is rather strong competition in that area.

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Well, Tauroneo would HAVE to become rather good pals with Largo rather quickly, as the old bean is only around for three chapters, eh? I do agree that Tauro is a good support choice for Largo. It's just the fact that they'll have the bonuses for such a short time that slightly takes the weight off it.

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Well I never, I finish just in time for luncheon once more. Toodle-pip, gel.

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Please excuse any errors in the text, eh? Unlike most other posts I found little time to just quickly look over this one. Forgive if it's not as spiffing as the others, eh?

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For a tank, Sir Tauro’s stats are indeed top-hole all round. 13 speed at this point is enough to not get doubled by pretty much everything, doncha know.

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I do think you’re rather jumping to conclusions, chap. Shinon is not, perhaps the exact opposite of RNG safe, but when one bad level-up will effect his stats I do say that good growths aren’t enough, eh, what?

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Ah, it appears as though you haven’t reached this chapter yet old chap, so I’ll fill you in.

The chapter that I’m referring to has several Generals, Wyvern Lords and a few Warriors scattered about all on one side of the field. Now, I can’t quite remember whether the wyvern chaps were reinforcements, but when Sir Tauroneo can be thrown into all of those French troops and come out fit enough to fight another day, I’d say that’s quite impressive, eh, what?

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Well, I can’t jolly well prove you wrong when accusing Tauroneo of being a glory-snatcher, since that sort of evidence doesn’t jolly well exist, what? Of course, the opposite doesn’t either, so I rather say that you’re pretty stuck, eh?

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Good job that Rolf can also support with Tauroneo at ‘B’, what? Shinon can keep his jolly old A support, but I say, I’m not about to deny Tauroneo of his B.

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Confounded quotes, turning commas into ‘@’. It’s simply not the done thing!

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Of course old bean, that is, of course, what I meant. But you can’t disagree that neither should have a lot of trouble hitting, what?

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Now, I wouldn’t quite say that, good fellow. Tauroneo takes more damage from melee chaps, but still not a lot of damage (whole point of a bally tank, what?). However, Gatrie will take rather a lot of damage from the magic fellows running about the place. Tauro will fare much better against those chaps, especially with his better Res and Evd, eh? Granted, there are rather more melee chaps dashing about, but the magic fellows can do far more damage to Gatrie than Tauro suffers from melee, what? I rather believe that this gives Tauro an edge.

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True, but Gatrie can’t, unfortunately, wield swords to the extent that our friend Tauroneo can. In terms of pure power, this doesn’t make a lot of difference - but this does mean that he can’t access things like Killing Edges, Steel Blades (which have one more might than a Steel Lance, surprisingly), Silver Blade (equal in might to a Silver Lance, and Tauroneo comes with one), Sonic Sword, Brave sword, Laguzslayer . . . I say, I rather think than our friend Gatrie is restricted to D ranks and below, eh? Whereas Tauroneo can quite easily S rank swords and be given the Vague Katti if the player so wishes. Rather spiffing, eh, what?

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I rather disagree, good chap. You see, old good Tauroneo has access to swords stronger than the lances Gatrie will be wielding at this point (indeed, he comes with a silver blade), rather putting a damper on that statement, eh?

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Perhaps, perhaps not. All depends, what?

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Indeed, but the same can also be said of our friend Tauroneo. My point with this was that Tauroneo has access to a huge amount of weaponry that out friend Gatrie does not, eh, what?

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‘Barely ever’ is a bit much, what? I say something like a quarter of the jolly old time, with him taking damage from magic users and laguz (both common in the endgame, eh?) and then completely destroying the chaps once resolved. The jolly good thing is that when Tauro’s Resolve does activate, he’s so durable that he can stay that way for the rest of the chapter. If the good chap does get a bit low on HP, then he can just use a vulnerary, what?

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I say, what a load of codswallop (no offence meant of course)! Tauroneo will be clearly superior for the Resolve quarter of the time, clearly superior for the time when he has a huge level advantage, and then only slightly inferior when non-Resolved for the end game when Gatrie has caught up - and you call Gatrie the jolly winner? By god, there’s something wrong with that head of yours old bean.

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Steady on old chap. Most of my reasoning of Tauroneo being superior to Brom stems from the same jolly things as old Gatrie - namely, Resolve, huge level lead and only slightly different in the endgame (when Resolve isn’t active, of course). Don’t forget that 20 isn’t the only level that matters, what?

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I say, I hardly see how 2.6 = 3. Rather, 2.6 = . . . 2.6. Not too shabby as you say, but hardly a huge difference, what?

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But can go in Tauroneo’s favour when you consider his jolly large selection of weaponry.

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Access to Killing Edges and Brave Swords, eh?

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It’s not a huge difference, old bean - though granted it does make a difference.

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But not a large one, what?

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And two swords, don’t forget!

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In normal circumstances I might say ‘quite so, old bean.’ However, in this case I am rather more tempted to say the opposite. Magic using chaps are the real danger to melee tanks like these two, and are jolly accurate to boot. Of course, Tauroneo has rather good Res for a melee unit, what? Our poor yank friend Brom actually takes rather more damage from magic chaps than Tauroneo does from melee ones - and that’s just taking into account the jolly old final chapter, when the two will be even, rather than the rest of the bally time when Tauroneo will have one of these good old ‘level advantages’, what?

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I daresay you would consider that the case old bean, but I rather disagree. This helps even out Brom’s lead in skill (which is, admittedly, quite considerable) about makes more of a difference than your might first think! For example, and endgame sage has 13 Crt. Brom’s Luk isn’t enough to ensure he doesn’t get criticalled, but Tauro’s is! Now, of course, the Crt percentage isn’t terribly large or anything to really worry about, but it’s a risk Tauro doesn’t have to take, what?

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Of course, that was just an example, although obviously that’s my take on things, eh?

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I’d hardly say quiet, but there you are.

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Indeed, eh? But you have to remember than with Shinon’s critical (which is admittedly quite good as far as these chaps go), he’s potentially killing off the enemy chaps in one round. Which means rather more enemies attacking him than you first banked on, what? His Evade is quite good, but alas the ranged weapons of some enemies are also quite accurate, and by no means is Shinon guaranteed to dodge. Eventually, the jolly fellow will take a hit too many and die, what?

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Or, in another circumstance, he fails to kill the jolly fellow attacking him and ends up creating a barrier between Gatrie and advancing. The fellow will have to finish what he started, or else simply leave his mess for someone else to clear up. It’s simply not cricket, good chap.

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Not so, old chap. Mist would rather support with her friends Jill and Boyd for the better bonuses, what?

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Alas, I must concede this point to you, what? Confounded nuisance that it is, Tauro won’t get his support with Tauroneo for very long.

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Jolly good show, eh? Now, since this is the last time you’ll be seeing me, I rather think it appropriate if I add some more points, what?

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You see, good chap, whilst this has been a rather long debate, there hasn’t really been much to prove that Shinon < Tauroneo or vice versa - rather silly when that’s the whole point of this debate in the first place, what?

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Shinon is fairly useful in the early game (for the time you have him). I’m not about to deny that. But the confounded fool has 15% critical and a jolly class boost, and with his skill, that means in the early-game he’ll have the highest critical of your units, what? You might think this a good thing, but I do believe it’s rather the opposite, good chap. You see, whilst Shinon has this quite magnificent critical, every time the old bean attacks someone to weaken them, there’s the chance that he’ll critical and kill the chap. From this, Shinon would gain about 1 exp, and simultaneously stop another character from gaining much more, which is just not cricket, what? So, whilst he might be useful for some easy kills, there’s quite a lot of risk involved, eh?

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However, we did mention earlier that the thoughtless chap left your party to go join the bally enemy, what? When Shinon rejoins you, the fellows bases, which seemed rather spiffing earlier, will now seem rather poor in comparison to your other units, most of whom - if not, all - should be promoted by this point already, and gained a few levels between them. So poor old Shinon will seem rather inferior at this point, and be underlevelled to boot, what?

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The nuisance is that, because of those bases, the chap will be rather fragile. And unlike other characters, the fellow can’t just up and join in you in the chapter you spot him - no, he has to go and disappear until the next chapter, and isn’t likely to be fielded there, either. For the next chapter - chapter 19 - holds the Raven King Naesala, who is virtually unbeatable thanks to awfully high . . . everything. In that chapter, you really need to take along Janaff/Ulki and Reyson, as well as your other characters that are solid parts of your party. No room for Shinon here, poor chap.

So, that leaves you with jolly old 20 to train Shinon up, and then three quarters of 21, what? Even if you include the use of bonus experience (and if I remember rightly, you don’t get an awful lot about this time, which is rather a nuisance, eh?), Shinon can’t be very highly levelled when you recruit Tauroneo, eh?

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Towards the endgame, the archer chap will catch up, but until then, Tauroneo will have the edge, what?

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I say, doesn’t this mean that Tauroneo will not only have a level advantage over Shinon, but for a long time will keep it? Strike me down that I daresay it does.