statistics

Overview: Rose's base powers are above Darts a little bit for everything but HP. So she's stronger than Dart to start with. Then her magic attack starts to dwindle, but her attack still remains hard hitting and awesome. She doesn't die right away when hit with powerful magic, which is a huge plus.

I like Rose, so I use Rose. You can literally beat this game with ANY of the team combinations. So use what you want. Like Dart, Rose, and Miranda? Use them. Like Meru? Use her. It's all up to you.

You might have to  train some more than others, or get special accessories to make up for faults, but it's still possible. I beat this game when I was 6, sucking ass and using no additions but the first ones fully leveled. This basically means anything is possible here.

Evaluation:
Rose is a good character for a playthrough, but only if you know what you're doing. First, if you suck at her additions, pick someone else, bottom line.


Rose's additions were always the easiest for me - I got her final addition mastered before anyone else's.  But if you just can't do it, go for someone else.

Let me make this clear, though. All additions take pratice to master. Rose is no different. Just because you can't do Demon's Dance the firs time around does not mean you can't do it. When you want to master additions, what you do is find a spot that I call a "training spot".

This spot will have a place to heal yourself, a place to save, and you can run into random enemies here. There's one in Vellweb, just before you fight the Virage, for example. Find a spot like this, and grind.
Just keep going until you master those additions.

Some people may be confused on what I mean by being unable to preform Rose's attacks. Well, I'll give you an example. No matter how hard I try I can't do Albert's Gust of Wind Dance. I can't get his most powerful addition because of this. (Please note I am stubborn and still haven't given up trying.)

But if you're like this with Rose, and you're on your first playthrough, I say you should find another partymember. If you're playing again, give her a shot even if you didn't do well with her before.

And of course, if you were always good with Rose, she makes an excellent addition to the team, but it depends on which other party member you have with you.


What team would I use?:

Rose, Albert, and Dart is usually a good combination. Rose has got high attack, though not as much brute strength as Albert, and her magic defense is the best out of the three. However, Rose has very low HP and her magic attack can sometimes be weak. With the right equipment, you can make up for her low HP and do some hard hitting damage. It's a very balanced team.

I also am extremely fond of Dart, Rose, and Meru, because I love Rose and Meru. (I wouldn't recommend this to a first time player though. )
Rose's attack is higher than Meru's for most of the time. Eventually, Rose only has one thing over Meru - Ease of additions and HP/defense. However, this doesn't happen until Meru is at level 5 on Perky Step, which will take a while.

Meru's magic attack is insane. She's the most powerful magic user in the game, being a wingly. Her last addition does enough damage that she doesn't hold the party back. She's also fast, so she gets more turns.
And of course Dart is vaguely well rounded and is decent.
This team has a problem with HP, so both Rose and Meru will need something that boosts their HP. (By 50% or more.)


Why use Rose if she's not the best?:

What're you on? Rose is the best for the first two disks of the game. She's physically the strongest and she has decent magic power for quite a while. She remains well balanced, and her additions are easy. Yeah, it's great if an addition is powerful, but it does you no good if you can't land the damn thing.

Rose is a good choice for any first time player, and a solid choice for any time after.