The Best of the Sorceresses.

[G.SummonerBWM]

XD That's right. IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO PICK YOUR FAVORITE SORCERESS!! Who do you think is the greatest sorceress of FFVIII of all time? Is it Edea, the Matron who made us fall in love with her but fear her of her powers, is it Rinoa, who is almighty in love and purity, is it Adel with her buffed strength and wickedness or is it Ultimecia, who shows that she was pulling the strings with her ultimate powers. Or maybe you have a favorite sorceress in the Time Compression battles. Pick and vote!

[Kitty]

I voted Edea. Though technically the things she did to "make us fear her" were actually done by Ultimecia, Edea just looks and behaves so much cooler. I liked the idea of her being a mom to these kids, who now have to turn around and kill her. Too bad she didn't stay evil, though.

Rinoa is one of my favorite characters, but in the story, she has done nothing remotely sorceress-like. Yeah, her Angel Wing limit break uses those powers, but you never see her use her powers at any other time. So she's hardly the "best" sorceress.

Ultimecia is just the product of bad writing. She could have been cool, but I felt completely unconnected from her. I never hated her, which I think all good evil villains should make me feel, or felt sympathy, like I'd feel for a more Kuja-like villain. She fails. And so, even though she has done some arguably cool things with her sorceress powers, I just can't like her.

I'd probably give honors to Adel. She was a pretty badass sorceress, causing wars, abducting children, etc. Her strange appearance makes it a little hard for me to take her as seriously as she probably should be taken, but she accomplished things using her powers, unlike Rinoa, and she was better worked into the story than Ultimecia.

Or maybe you have a favorite sorceress in the Time Compression battles.

Those random bosses at the end? How could any of those be a favorite? They have no personality, and they weren't even a challenging fight.

[G.SummonerBWM]

I find Sorceress Edea the best of the best. I wish that we can keep her a little bit more longer in the game. Rinoa is ok but she's still inexperienced. Ultimecia will just rank number two under Edea.

[Kitty]

I wish that we can keep her a little bit more longer in the game.

I found Edea rather useless as a party member. Her ice strike limit break was pretty lame. But I did like having her in the party anyway, because it was a change, and besides, during that Lunatic Pandora bit, I packed all of the characters I liked into space, and having Edea in the party was at least better than using Irvine.

I suppose if you take into account Rinoa's Angel Wing limit break, she's a strong sorceress. The meteor trick lets her wipe out even tough bosses rather easily. I wish she had shown her powers off a little more, though. Theoretically, she should be able to do anything Ultimecia, Adel, or Edea could do, since she inherited powers from all three of them in one way or another.

[G.SummonerBWM]

Actually, Square wanted to have Sorceress Edea have more limit breaks in the Sorcery section but they was only were able to do one before they can get the game sold. I find Edea's Ice Strike useful. All I have to do is to have her at a low hp and keep on having her use ice strike to get rid of the enemies.

[Kitty]

Actually, Square wanted to have Sorceress Edea have more limit breaks in the Sorcery section but they was only were able to do one before they can get the game sold. I find Edea's Ice Strike useful. All I have to do is to have her at a low hp and keep on having her use ice strike to get rid of the enemies.

I would have enjoyed Edea in the party a lot more if she'd had those other limit breaks to choose from. Ice Strike was okay- it looked impressive when she was attacking Squall at the end of disc 1 anyway, but I don't recall it doing a whole lot of damage. I don't remember her being as strong as the rest of my party members, even the ones I only used to level up. When I used her, I did it just because she was a cool character, not because she was handy in battle.

[G.SummonerBWM]

??? She did a lot of damage when I used her but I guess that's because I had the stronger spells in Disc 1already through playing Triple Triad and automatically empower her with junctions. I find Adel rather bothersome because she's the only sorceress who can use force spells.

[Kitty]

??? She did a lot of damage when I used her but I guess that's because I had the stronger spells in Disc 1already through playing Triple Triad and automatically empower her with junctions.

I played Triple Triad like crazy, and I had a stockpile of stronger magic early on, too. But even so, I don't remember Edea as being quite as good as the rest of my party. Or, she had no clear advantages.

Though, this brings up an inconsistency, now that I think about it. At the time Edea is in the party, she's not even a sorceress anymore, correct? She'd already passed her powers onto Rinoa, so how is she making crystals out of ice and throwing them at anything, anyway?

[G.SummonerBWM]

??? Um... Ultimecia leaving out of Edea into Rinoa... Edea went to Esthar... I think it was the Lunar Cry or that Ultimecia took Edea's powers and put them into Rinoa. I'm not real sure but that's a good question.

[Kitty]

Ultimecia left Edea and Edea gave her powers to Rinoa when the party defeats her in Galbadia Garden (I think at the end of disc 2). After this event is when Rinoa went into the coma and Squall decided to go to Esthar to try and find Ellone to discover what happened to her. Edea came along because she, still thinking she was a sorceress, wanted to speak with Doc Odine.

Rinoa was already possessed by Ultimecia because when Ellone sends Squall back to Rinoa's past immediately following Edea's defeat, we see Ultimecia speaking to Seifer through Rinoa's body before Rinoa collapses.

So unless an affinity with ice was Edea's gift before becoming a sorceress (and no one else in the game, with the exception of Ellone, is shown to have any sort of ability like that without junctioning a GF), Edea shouldn't have had a Sorcery limit break while in the party. But I suppose if she didn't, that would have spoiled the reveal that she was no longer a sorceress when the time came.