Spoony Bard: Difference between revisions

If you have any experience with your typical fantasy RPG whatsoever, you know [[An Adventurer Is You|the basic roles by heart]]. RPG games are made so that characters are specialized, but rather than [[Crippling Overspecialization|crippling characters for their specialization]], they are actually [[Min Maxing|more powerful the more they specialize]] thanks to the fact that party members can rely on their [[Nakama|comrades-in-arms]] whenever [[Plot Tailored to The Party|the challenge the heroes face plays to one party member's weakness, it will be playing to another party member's strength]].

 

 

Enter the bard! (or sometimes "dancer" or "cheerleader") For some reason, when game makers want more [[Splat|splats]], bards are the way that ''everyone'' tries to make their game "different." Bards provide an entirely new role that falls outside of those standard four roles, which lets players who want to try something different have a way to support the party in a way that is (questionably) new and (possibly) unique.

 

Not to be confused with [[Funny Spoon]].

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** [[Magikarp Power|Late in the GBA version of the game, Edward becomes one of the fastest characters in the game]]. Equip him with the Apollo Harp, and he can easily dish out 2000+ damage ''every few seconds''. And woe unto any dragon-type enemies you run into, as Edward will regularly dole out anywhere from 8000+ to max damage ''per hit''. Then he gets his ultimate weapon Loki's Lute which does that much damage to ANY creature that has a racial flag. (like dragon, demon or giant) His only glaring weaknesses are his defense and lack of hit points, making him more of a [[Glass Cannon]] -- but even then, he deals full damage from the back row, so defence is less important for him. There was also an accessory that changes his useless sing command to a Mighty Guard Spell. There was also his other much-upgraded ability, Salve: in previous versions, all it did was to take a potion and split it between the party members for a whopping 25 HP of healing. In the DS remake, it instead allows you to take any item and use it on the entire party at once with full effect, although it does use up as many of the said item as there are party members. Like the previous skill, it can also be later given to another character as well.

** Edward indirectly contributes towards making Edge a lot more useful than he normally would be: Throw can be used while Hiding, and thus he can throw stuff at enemies while being completely unhittable, although hidden characters have a tendency to return on their own after a set amount of time has passed. Aim is also usable when hiding, but it's not nearly as useful or damaging as Throw.

*** Seems like poor Edward just can't seem to catch a break. While he's shown to be much less wimpier storywise and he still retains his Salve ability in After Years, his Bardsong is again randomized. At very least you can still choose whether you want to target your party or enemies with it, including being able to choose from a single/all party members/enemies and the negative statuses it can cause have potential to at least be useful this time around since the game follows the DS version trend of making [[Useless Useful Spell|Useless Useful Spells]] less useless. While he's not the [[Glass Cannon]] he was in the GBA version anymore, his damage output isn't that far behind from the other characters, he's still decently fast, the aforementioned Salve can be even more useful than the White Mages' healing spells both because of the buyable X-Potions and Elixirs and an item that doubles the effectiveness of items in battle and his ability to hide can still be useful against enemies who telegraph their [[Total Party Kill]] attacks.

*** And seeing how Edward is still moping over his beloved Anna ''[[Final Fantasy IV the After Years|17 years]]'' after her death, such that his kingdom is without an heir, he apparently still fits the literal definition as well. That said, he's ''much'' [[Took a Level In Badass|more confident and assertive]] now, and is one of the only heroes to get the better of the villains, if temporarily, so far.

== Web Comics ==

* Gildward, the bard from the webcomic ''[[Adventurers (Webcomic)|Adventurers]]'', is a parody of the original [[Spoony Bard]] from ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IV]]''. His name is even a combination of "Edward" and "Gilbert", Edward's Japanese name. In [http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/0034.html this strip], he [[Defied Trope|almost]] gets called a [[Spoony Bard]] after demonstrating the utterly ineffectual powers of his magic harp.

** Notable in that his [[Took a Level In Badass|leveling up]] hasn't drowned out the endearing aspects of his character: optimism, ''extraordinary'' loyalty to his friends, and a certain bumbling charm that makes him what he is. [[Character Development|Elan's progression]] from a simple Spoony Bard to Dashing Swordsman isn't just about getting more/useful class powers, but him developing the chops to be a genuine [[Big Damn Hero]]. As part of this growth he also is slowly shown to be [[How Do I Shoot Web|learning how to properly use his regular bardic spells]].

* Julie, the protagonist of ''[[Our Little Adventure]]''. She's [[The Archer|good with a bow]] and she's the only group member with any sort of healing powers but seldom ever kicks ass and takes names. Julie's [[Reluctant Warrior|dislike of fighting]] might play into it, but she's got no problem with [[Magic Music|boosting her groupmates' killing skills]] using [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment|silly musical numbers.]]

** Turns out that all Sburb bards are a subversion of this. The Bard class is described as one that allows others to destroy their Aspect or one who invites destruction through their Aspect, as if by the will of the Aspect. (e.g. {{spoiler|Rage}}) Seems unintuitive from the name, but useful.

** However, this makes the Bard class a [[Wild Card]] who often single-handedly causes improbable victory or spectacular downfall (or both), so it's played straight in that the person who tells us all of this is of the opinion that the kids are probably better off without a Bard.

 

{{reflist}}