The Sinister Design Forums

Who is the better healer?

Anya: A human Psy Healer who is able to use Long Shield and Light Resistance.  Her Mind Shield can have a range of 2.

Festus: A Psy Healer who has the benefits of being a shadowlings. Those benefits include the ability to float, inhuman speed, and Shadow Resistance.

I Like Festus because:
1.   Shadow Resistance is extremely helpful for fighting against Cerzak and the shadowlings.
2.   Festus travels father than Anya and he can fly
3.   He can Attack

I do not like Anya because:
1.   The only time you need to have light Resistance, is in the Psy Academy Fight, which she is not in
2.   She cannot fly, attack or move far in a turn
3.   If You train Festus Defence enough, before you met her, he is both stronger faster, and heals more than her
4.   The only time I would use her would be if I needed an extra healer for a battle. 

I would be very surprised to see someone choosing Anya over Festus.

Looking at the two advantages give to Anya:
1). Long Shield, well, with Festus' ability to float over water and other obstacles, and his higher mobility, he can effectively use Big Shield in place of Long Shield (from a side) to heal the same amount of people, and he has the same reach, if Anya and he start from the same position, and Anya uses Long Shield- he'll simply move more, and use less penetrating shield, thus, overall, Long Shield would very rarely give Anya better battlefield coverage (the only map I can think of where that might come true is the Psy Academy first battle, but Anya does not participate in it)
2). Light Resistance, as Zackirus rightly put it, it can be used only against Tastidian and Nelis, or against Energy Golems in the Nelis battle, 'cause I very much doubt someone will invest so much gold early on in the game to give Anya level 16 Defense before mission 3 begins.
3). I actually find the Mind Shield 2 rather annoying: this means that in cramped quarters, Anya is unable to use little PsP on a normal Shield to heal a teammate- and using Mega Shield early-to-mid game can be quite wasteful. And towards the end, she learns Long Shield, so her cheapest Shield attack is 5 PsP, whilst Festus' is 3 PsP. Thus, he can conserve more PsP.

Going for Festus bonuses:
1). As quite rightly noted by Zackirus, under equal leveling up, Festus has slightly higher stats, for both hismelf and the attacks.
2). His mobility is superior in all aspects.
3). His resistance proves very useful against both the most potent enemies in mission 6 (and he isn't slowed down, unlike Anya, in the hard battle against Cerzak) and against practically all enemies in mission 7 against Somnus

And, again, as Zackirus put above, Anya is useful when you want a second Healer, and don't want the Main equipped with the Indigo orb.

the reason festus is better
1.he is faster so he can get to people quicker
2.because of him being faster he can get the back side of enemys
3.his mind blast is twice as strong as anya
4.he has more resistance against shadow
5.he has more health so he can live longer
6.he can get out of dangerous situations better than anya can
7.festus is more effective with healing power
8.the most important he has been of help to me

There are two people how have chosen Anya over Festus in the poll, if you're one of them, can you explain why, please?

I'm not one of them, but I can guess as to their reasoning. it allows a tank, with a ranged support to both attack an enemy and have Anya heal the tank. For instance

Anya
Guy
Flint
Mechanic

Flint and Guy can bombard the Mechanic while Flint stays healthy due to Anya.

No actually, I prefer Anya to Festus because of a different reason.
Anya can go in front of energy golems, and survive Nelis's Holy Blast easily. So I up her power a lot before the Nelis battle, and then set her to attack Nelis.

Quote from: torugo on March 24, 2010, 09:01:51 PM
the reason festus is better
1.he is faster so he can get to people quicker
2.because of him being faster he can get the back side of enemys
3.his mind blast is twice as strong as anya
4.he has more resistance against shadow
5.he has more health so he can live longer
6.he can get out of dangerous situations better than anya can
7.festus is more effective with healing power
8.the most important he has been of help to me

The bold ones are only because you use Festus more, and the italasized reasons are alike. So really, only 2 reasons that are real are listed there.

Festus moves faster and floats, so his Big Shield gets better coverage than Anya's long shield.

He can also be used as an auxiliary fighter better than Anya, because he is more mobile and won't get in the way of more powerful attackers.

And he does have muchos more health.

the eight reason is the only one that is not real i train everyone the same in this game and festus still better than anya

Torugo, ask whoever you want, Festus and Anya deal/heal the same damage IF their psy power/defense is the same. He barely has any more HP if their psy defense is the same too.

Quote from: Frosty on March 26, 2010, 04:07:04 PM
Torugo, ask whoever you want, Festus and Anya deal/heal the same damage IF their psy power/defense is the same. He barely has any more HP if their psy defense is the same too.

The problem is Anya can't deal damage! Each have their own pros and cons and they both do the job of the healer in the end.

Anya has an attack called mind blast. I think you should use it more often.

frosty what zackirus is saying is that it is pointless to make her fight  because she is weak and if you send her in to a fight then it is highly likely she will die

Quote from: Frosty on March 27, 2010, 11:01:59 AM
Anya has an attack called mind blast. I think you should use it more often.

Thank you Torugo that was what I was saying

I don't think that that is a valid argument: leveling up Anya's and Festus' stats to the same levels, we see his hp 1 more, I believe, than hers, his defensive attacks either the same, or 2-3 more than hers. This is certainly not enough to label her a useless and easy-to-kill teammate as she can deal the same damage as Festus and has little difference in vital stats.

What does make a difference is Festus' increased mobility (flying and much greater speed) and his Shadow resistance being more useful in all, but two battles in the game. There will be one or two specialized battles, such as the one with Nelis, where Anya is a better choice, but broadly speaking the player is probably better-off investing in Festus. (Plus, depending on which strategy the player adopts, it's more than possible to avoid getting hit by Nelis' and Tastidian's Light-based attacks in battle, and Festus is more able to cover the limited ground area in the last battle- Anya would be restricted to the periphery.)

Quote from: Frosty on March 26, 2010, 04:07:04 PM
Torugo, ask whoever you want, Festus and Anya deal/heal the same damage IF their psy power/defense is the same. He barely has any more HP if their psy defense is the same too.

Although it would seem that way from base stats, Festus can be utilized far more often since he has greater mobility. If you put Anya in the front, she blockades stronger attackers and can't retreat effectively.

Quote from: torugo on March 27, 2010, 12:05:37 PM
frosty what zackirus is saying is that it is pointless to make her fight  because she is weak and if you send her in to a fight then it is highly likely she will die

You usually up her defense a lot, and if you up her power, you would be surpsied.

Quote from: Presentiment on March 27, 2010, 02:06:02 PM

Quote from: Frosty on March 26, 2010, 04:07:04 PM
Torugo, ask whoever you want, Festus and Anya deal/heal the same damage IF their psy power/defense is the same. He barely has any more HP if their psy defense is the same too.

Although it would seem that way from base stats, Festus can be utilized far more often since he has greater mobility. If you put Anya in the front, she blockades stronger attackers and can't retreat effectively.

But she can retreat effectivley. Would you give the hero the Green orb just because he can't retreat? And why would you put Anya on the frontlines except against Nelis, Tastidian, or Energy Golems?

I get this feeling that the other person that choose Anya was just joking around, and I am the only one that really prefers her over Festus.

Yes, but it pays off more to upgrade Festus. He'll be attacking far more thanks to his mobility, and on any tight map (such as the Mechanics battle with the bridge in center), Anya will be rendered obsolete as an attacker since powerhouses such as the swordsmen and psy assassins will be better used at close range.

So use her as a healer in that battle.

And still you have not pointed out how she is better than Festus.

Because
A) Festus can reach the same area, but Anya can reach that area safely
B) Anya has light resistance, which is useful in the last battles

But surely Festus, on most occaisons expect when Anya needs Long Shield, can reach the area safely as well: especially if there is something like a water obstacle or a small stone in the way- think of the Mechanics battles: Festus can retreat into the safety of the water and use Mind Shield, rather than Anya using Long Shield (saves PsP in battle) and he is fast enough to sometimes be used to go around a ranged unit and find a position from which the said ranged unit cannot attack him. I do admit though that there are occaisons when Anya can heal folks up-front without exposing herself much, unlike the need to bring Festus closer to the battle (via using Big Shield) in order to effectively heal eveyone.

Yes, Anya is useful in the last two battles, but as I said on the previous page, with proper tactics it's quite easy to keep a healer out of harm's way: there is only Tastidian dealing light attacks, and 3 (I think, or is it 4?) energy golems in the Nelis battle, plus Nelis herself. But in Tastidian's battle, it's much harder to avoid Shadowlings with Shadow attacks- Tastidian, on the other hand, stays back and, if properly attacked, may not move at all during the entire battle! Nelis can be easily disracted, and simply avoiding finishing up a healer on the line-of-sight of an energy golem is actually much easier done with Festus, as he can float over the chasms and he is faster too- that can also help him avoid Nelis  much more easily. So, it's not such a big drawback for Festus to not have Light Resistance.

However, respect for sticking with Anya and trying to logically argument through the case against the majority ;)

Quote from: Frosty on March 28, 2010, 08:32:03 AM
Because
A) Festus can reach the same area, but Anya can reach that area safely
B) Anya has light resistance, which is useful in the last battles

yeah anya has light resistance that is only useful in two different battles

Torugo, read it again. I said that. But I was wrong. Energy Golems also use light. Anya can reach an ally a long way from an enemy, but that doesn't matter for energy golems. The light resistance does, though.

KZ, with Anya I can easily avoid the shadowlings and shadow guardians. Probably 'cause I actually know how to use her, unlike seemingly everyone else.

Quote from: Frosty on March 29, 2010, 04:02:22 PM
unlike seemingly everyone else.

C'mon Frosty, that's uncalled for- Presentiment is no more, no one's about to make rash or provocative judgements on the matter.

For the sake of the argument, having beta tested (and therefore played battles many times over) TRPG2 and both TPA projects, as well as creating and testing maps just for the sake of it, I also think I am not too bad at positioning my units- and I can objectively say that a flying unit with higher speed is easier to move around and avoid enemies with than a non-flying unit with less speed. What I think I can say, and I am sure a few others will agree, is that I do have respect for your choice of sticking with Anya and following through with, what I believe to be, a more difficult battle-plan from tactical point of view.

Sorry, I posted that BEFORE I read that Presintiment was banned. And by all this reasoning, I see why peolpe think Festus is better. I've justed used Anya more, so I'm more used to using her and therefore better with her and prefer her. This whole topic is just a big old question. Who do you use more? Anya or Festus? Me, its Anya. Most people, its Festus. Plus, why are we even arguing it? I can understand, no one else is going to be in the same mindset as me, and I will always prefer Anya. I'm just like that. Call me stubborn. But I know a lost battle when I see one.

To each their own. ;)
But still, it was interesting to see what objective advantages and disadvatanges the two healers had. In this case it's not hard to compare the two, and surely it's pure subjective preference for one small factor over others (e.g. playing method, desire to up the difficulty) that affects the selection of the healer. At least this discussion showed what the objective cons and pros are, as well as what the debatable points are.

one very important thing we have not mentioned yet is that Festus' Big Shield heals himself
the importance: Anya IS easier to kill, because on a first turn where I attack with all units, Festus/Anya will get hurt. Festus can heal everybody and himself, while Anya can only recover health if she is healed by Jack/Main, a complete waste of a move

Quote from: mikew781 on April 12, 2010, 06:28:58 PM
one very important thing we have not mentioned yet is that Festus' Big Shield heals himself
the importance: Anya IS easier to kill, because on a first turn where I attack with all units, Festus/Anya will get hurt. Festus can heal everybody and himself, while Anya can only recover health if she is healed by Jack/Main, a complete waste of a move

AND she can´t fly AND she is slower

Let me point this out:

Festus has everything Anya has and much more in terms of mobility. Therefore all your arguments about getting her out of the way are moot because you can be sure Festus will be better in that position.

The point is arguing Anya vs. Festus, and Festus trumps her in mobility and therefore damage, has slightly more HP, and a more useful resistance, and he has Big Shield, which can potentially heal three times more people than Anya's Long Shield.

Quote from: Tinkerbell on April 14, 2010, 12:44:41 AM
Let me point this out:

Festus has everything Anya has and much more in terms of mobility. Therefore all your arguments about getting her out of the way are moot because you can be sure Festus will be better in that position.

The point is arguing Anya vs. Festus, and Festus trumps her in mobility and therefore damage, has slightly more HP, and a more useful resistance, and he has Big Shield, which can potentially heal three times more people than Anya's Long Shield.

Anya has long shield? She has big shield too. At least my anya has it.

how far do you train anya or big shield mine wont learn it

Anya gets big shield at defence 13. You can take a look at Upgrades for teammates' at Hellion's (http://sinisterdesign.net/forum/index.php?topic=21.0), inside TRPG2 Walkthroughs.

Quote from: Tinkerbell on April 14, 2010, 12:44:41 AM
Let me point this out:

Festus has everything Anya has and much more in terms of mobility. Therefore all your arguments about getting her out of the way are moot because you can be sure Festus will be better in that position.

The point is arguing Anya vs. Festus, and Festus trumps her in mobility and therefore damage, has slightly more HP, and a more useful resistance, and he has Big Shield, which can potentially heal three times more people than Anya's Long Shield.

The reason I like Anya is because she heal people safer. I play Fire Emblem a lot, and in that game, allys can't get revived if they die. So I'm used to keeping people alive a much as possible. It also saves me gold in this game, and if you side with the academy, people can't get revived afterword.

Plus, how does he trump her in damage? Up there psy power they do the same amount. And Festus only has 1 more health.
P.S. Sorry about being offline so long.

Festus does not trump Anya in damage, I believe- they heal and attack for the same amount.

As mentioned earlier, this really boils down to personal preferences for a few pros for Anya (e.g. Light Resistance, useful in battle against Nelis and pre-Nelis battle), over quite a few for Festus.

Quote from: Tinkerbell on April 14, 2010, 12:44:41 AM
The point is arguing Anya vs. Festus, and Festus trumps her in mobility and therefore damage, has slightly more HP, and a more useful resistance, and he has Big Shield, which can potentially heal three times more people than Anya's Long Shield.

I think his point is that Festus can get to enemies more easily and thus can deal more damage during a battle than Anya, not that Festus' attack deals more damage.

Personaly, they are both good.

Festus is fast, can heal himself, and has big shield.  I voted for him.  However, there is another senerio in which Anya is just as useful.

Mission 6.  Anya (using mind/long shield) can heal the fighters withough worrying about being caught in the breath attacks (except the dark ones, there breath reaches 3 squares.)

Welcome to the forum, Purplemandown! Follow the rules and enjoy your stay! Now, thank you for stating that they are both useful, because they are, and for explaining the scenarios! Though, it has been settled that they are both useful in their own way already, thank you for reminding us.

Quote from: KZ on July 06, 2010, 04:45:47 PM
Festus does not trump Anya in damage, I believe- they heal and attack for the same amount.

As mentioned earlier, this really boils down to personal preferences for a few pros for Anya (e.g. Light Resistance, useful in battle against Nelis and pre-Nelis battle), over quite a few for Festus.

Thats what I think.

I just use both...

Use Anya for healing guys with range attacks and Festus for healing melee guys.

What's wrong with playing it safe?  :)

Quote from: speedygeek on December 31, 2010, 05:16:42 PM
I just use both...

Use Anya for healing guys with range attacks and Festus for healing melee guys.

What's wrong with playing it safe?  :)

yeah!