CLOSED - Rate Cross Characters 28: Pierre

[ZeaLitY]

Evaluate Pierre based on his character design, combat usefulness, and Tilt factor -- which can mean anything, from how much he strikes you as cool to how important he is to the plot.

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Pierre

[Radical_Dreamer]

Design: They wanted an effiminate looking wanna be hero, and they got it. His design matches him very well; outwardly very fanciful, but underneath it, a hero lies waiting.

Comabt: I liked using him, particularly with his proper set. I liked the way they went about that, actually.

Tilt: He uses the Hero Medal. The last fellow who had that...

A

[CelestialPhantasm]

Design: Flamboyant, colorful, dashing, and a bit comical.  A bit frail looking to highlight his initial weakness.  Very french. He fences... even with broadswords!

Battle: Terrible at first.  With each successive Hero's item he becomes a bit better.  The Hero's Sword gives him a critical hit ratio on par with that of the Mastermune!

Tilt:  I too am a fan of Pierre.  At first he's just great comic relief (His way into Viper Manor is hilarious).  But he's a pitiful "hero" who's all talk, a braggart with nothing to brag about.  And yet somehow he comes to possess the legendary hero's medal... A turning point comes in the story when he is shown the replica sword (a nice use of symbolism) to inspire him- he then he stops denying the charade of his existence and the full weight of that shame comes down on his shoulders.  He decides to change his fate and embrace the true path of the hero.  Pierre is therefore symbolic of the Chrono Cross theme of defying fate and choosing one's own destiny.  This perhaps makes him the most developed character in the game. 

Pierre's weak point as a character is that he doesn't have a strong connection to the plot or the world around him (except as a member of Serge's party, though perhaps I missed some character-interaction by not using him at the right times) and for this I would still say that Nikki is my preferred guide of choice (and the one I would recommend to any first-time players) But I also feel that Pierre's positive qualities far outweigh this negative point.

A

[nightmare975]

Design: A gay looking French dude. Bleh

Combat: He is strong, I'll give him that.

Tilt: The Hero Items are only equipable by him. Which helps increase his stats, so he's strong for a beginning character.

Final Grade: B

PS: I have nothing against gays or French people, I just have never been accustomed to the "French accent", or gay stereotypes. I just expect better from Square.

[Kyronea]

Character Design: Flamboyant, romantic, enchanting...unless, of course, you have more intelligence than a toad, in which case you can see through the facade to the sad little man inside.

Combat Usefulness: I'll grant that he's really powerful with the Hero set, but that set takes a lot of time to acquire and until then he's not very powerful at all, especially given the time he joins.

Tilt: The problem I have with Pierre is his singular lack of connection with the plot. Guile was originally going to be Magus and Nikki is central to many aspects, so at least those two make sense, but Pierre? Look, I can like the guy for being what he is, but he just wasn't necessary as a PC. Maybe as comic relief occasionally throughout the game, showing up in different places...say, following Serge around or something, but as it stands, no thank you, Pierre.

Final Grade: C.

[ZeaLitY]

Design: Pierre touts himself as the true hero with the aesthetics to back it up. And it's all there...he's got the look. His arrogance can be unsettling, but it's all in good fun.

Combat: Pierre kicks ass with the hero set.

Tilt: Pierre goes through a wonderful development art, realizing that courage truly makes a hero. He then begins training without end by running laps in the Termina yard. In the milieu of Cross characters, this is downright inspiring.

Pierre:
   I understand now!
   A true hero knows
   fear...
   And yet while knowing
   fear, he still has the
   courage to put up a
   fight!
   If moi lack the caliber
   to be called such then
   moi will just have to
   work harder!

THIS is the springtime of youth, and the blossoming of beautiful self-will! He becomes a real Radical Dreamer, and is worthy to highlight such a romantic, deep quest as this. He has earned the spot of my favorite character in the entire Chrono series.

A

[V_Translanka]

Character Design - Big floppy hat w/feather: Awesome. Golden armor: equally awesome. Together w/the rest of his outfit (I'm looking at YOU red sash!)...LAME!

Combat Usefulness - He uses swords and he's got a unique sword, so that's gotta be some bonus points. As for his Techs...Medalsome (anyone else tired of all of the stupid puns?) uses the Hero Medal, so that's a nice lil throwback, I suppose...Foiled Again (another lame pun?!?) was an okay average sorta cut-em-up Tech...and SlapOfCyrus...what can I say about SlapOfCyrus...let me use an equally lame turn of phrase...it's a slap in the face of the real Cyrus (real as in the one from CT?). Super lame.

Tilt Factor - According to ZeaLitY, he says a kind of cool heroic thing...I don't know how much I buy it...I'd much rather be given a reason as to why he wants to be a hero or how he feels about some of the non-heroes he's traveling around with (no thanks to Serge). I think he was an interesting character that showed promise...but in the end he got nothin.

Final Grade - C (and that's GENEROUS!)

I calmly await the judging of Pip...he'll probably get Cs because of his unique ability...tsk...