As usual, Global ratings are my own opinions relative to other character or TMs available at the time this is written, with Japanese ratings coming from altema.jp. Japanese TM ratings are on a scale from: Unranked, B, A, S, SS, to SSS.

DARK KNIGHT CECIL:

Rarity: 5* to 6*

Global Party Rating: 9/10

Dark Knight Cecil has a GLOBAL EXCLUSIVE ability which I'm not aware of the details of at the time of writing this. One single ability CAN make a character so he may be stronger at release (and in the future) than this review indicates

Dark Knight Cecil is releases as the highest ATK character on Global with a good variety of weapons available and with a kit similar to the Dark Knights who have come before him (Garland and Gaffgarion) -- the difference being he also has a very strong single target attack. Like previous Dark Knights he has dark attacks which consume his HP to do AOE dark damage (Darkside - 30% HP for 150% AOE and Dark Cannon - 40% HP for 250% AOE) but he also comes with one which does not consume his HP but is MAG based (Dark Flame 250% MAG AOE). On top of that he has Soul Eater which is a 320% single target dark attack (damage equivalent with Barrage, but single target so you can pick the target AND all in one hit for chaining purposes) but at the cost of 49% of his HP. He also comes with Drain Blade to try to give himself some sustain, but you're likely going to need to be topping him up with your healer if you're using Soul Eater. Finally, for active abilities he has the underwhelming Store (80% ATK per Use (160% Max) until Next Action (Damage Taken 50%)) and the also disappointing Gravity Ball which acts like a single target Graviga with a HP cost (Lose 10% HP ST 75% Target HP Damage.)

Dark Knight Cecil also comes with a collection of passive abilities like Auto-Refresh (Recover 5% MP per turn -- most 5* base characters have this), 20% DEF, 20% HP, 50% ATK, 50% Dark Resist, and HP Stroll (Recover 5 HP per 3 steps -- which no one cares about.)

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): 88/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Deathbringer - 9/10

Equipment - Greatsword - 120 ATK, Man-Eater, Dark Element

If you're familar with Cecil's Excalibur, this has the exact same damage but adds Man-Eater and swaps the Holy element for Dark. Depending on the character and party you're equipping this into the element swap could be an upgrade or a downgrade depending on how they synergize with that particular element but if you TM farm it's much easier to get multiple Excaliburs for elemental chains than multiple Deathbringers.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): SS Tier

Why would you want Dark Knight Cecil?: If you can work around the HP loss, Dark Knight Cecil will be the second highest single target or AOE damage character in the game at the time of his release (just behind Lightning as innate Dual Wield is hard to beat) and a very good TM to boot -- but 49% HP loss is hard to stomach.

Is he FUTURE-PROOF?: Dark Knight Cecil is released as a 6 star max character, but is no longer highly rated in Japan compared to other 6 star characters but (edit!) has just had abilities enhancements announced in Japan. The full details are not yet available but Skikkoku (which is currently 20% ATK & 50% Dark Resist) will be upgrade-able to Increases ATK boost and Dark resist and HP Regen, Dark Cannon (Lose 40% HP 250% AoE 1 Hit Dark Physical Attack) will be upgrade-able to Add Dark resist debuff and increase DMG, and Soul Eater (Lose 49% HP 320% ST 1 Hit Dark Physical Attack) will be upgrade-able to Increases HP consumption, adding Dark Resist debuff and increase DMG.

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ROSA:

Rarity: 4* to 5*

Global Party Rating: 8/10

Rosa brings all the tools you need to make a good healer and her healing niche is MP recovery.

For spells she brings Curaga and Curaja for heals and can cleanse any status effect in the game with her combination of Esuna, Cleanse, and Stona. She's also the first character to come with dispelga (AOE stat buff removal.) Her party MP recovery comes in the form of Bless (AoE ~10 MP Heal w/ 0.1x Mod split over 3 Turns) and her limit burst (AoE Recover 60% HP, 20% MP -> AoE Recover 79% HP, 39% MP)

For passives she brings MP Stroll (Recover 2 MP per 1 steps), 30% SPR and 20% MP.

Rosa also has a couple archer abilities that no one cares about.

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): 83/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Goddess Bow - 5/10

Equipment - Bow - 91 ATK, 40 SPR, Bird Slayer (Bird slayer was NOT mentioned on the Global announcement but is on this bow in Japan. Either it's just not listed or a nerf; my guess is not listed as there is no reason to nerf this bow.)

This bow isn't completely useless, but it's pretty niche. On Rosa, you would be better off grinding Lenna's TM instead, and on a bow user (of which there aren't many) you would get more damage with a Killer Bow against Plants and Bugs. You likely have access to better TMs than this one.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): B Tier

Why would you want Rosa?: Rosa is a very capable healer competing with Lenna and Garnet for the top slot. If you bring Rosa you gain access to MP restoring abilities (including MP stroll which, unlike HP stroll, is not trivial in explorations) and can now remove petrify and disease but over Lenna you lose Cheer and Regen (which no one casts) and over Garnet you lose Raise, Regen (which, again, no one casts) and summon buffing passives. Is the trade of for Cheer worth it? That depends on the situation and can be quite subjective so that decision is up to you.

Is she FUTURE-PROOF?: Rosa does not currently have a 6 star upgrade in Japan.

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EDGE:

Rarity: 3* to 5*

Global Party Rating: 5/10

Sorry Edge fans -- I love Edge but his FFBE skillset isn't great. Edge brings fairly high ATK and okay MAG, but all, but one, of his damaging abilities are MAG based with low multipliers and without the equipment set to support building him as a mage.

Edge's Ninjutsu abilities include 120% Single Target magic abilities for Fire or Water, or 140% AOE magic abilities for Ice, Thunder, and Earth.

He can also Throw (Use Projectile), Smoke (100% chance to flee), Steal (with no passives to increase the chance of stealing), Clone (Evade Attacks (Max: 2) for 3 Turns) and has abilities that have a 30% chance to Confuse, Blind, Silence, or Paralyze. His final ability is Wind Shuriken which is a fixed damage ability doing 1000 single target damage which can have its uses.

His passives are 10% ATK, Camouflage (decrease target chance 50%) and Man-Eater (50% damage to humans)

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): 75/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Hanzo Gauntlet - 4/10

Accessory - 15 DEF / 15 SPR - Can use Mug (Access to Mug is NOT listed on the annoucement, but I assume it's just not listed rather than a nerf.)

You could have at least given poor Edge a decent TM guys! 15 DEF/SPR is okay and kind of useful on a tank but this is just likely much lower priority than other TMs you could work on.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): Unranked

Why would you want Edge?: Edge, unfortunately, doesn't really have anything going for him to make you want to add him to your team outside of nostalgia.

Is he FUTURE-PROOF?: Edge does not currently have a 6* upgrade in Japan.

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CECIL

Rarity: 3* to 6*

Global Party Rating: 10/10

With the advent of ADV Colo, tanks are starting to feel worth their party slot, and just in time for the best tank we will have for a long time (until 6 star Warrior of Light -- and even then there isn't a clear winner between the two.)

Cecil has an amazing 75% Chance to block attacks (and reducing 50% physical or magical damage) via Saintly Wall which, by itself, is enough to make Cecil the best tank in the game at the time of his release.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE:

He brings FOCUS! (3 Turn 40% MAG/SPR)

His limit break is AoE 3 Turn 50% ATK/DEF/SPR -> AoE 3 Turn 74% ATK/DEF/SPR (I hope you saved your LB pots!)

For spells he brings Cure, Cura, Curaja, Dispel, and Libra.

He also has several passives including 20% HP, 30% DEF, 20% ATK, 50% Light Resist, High Tide (LB fill rate 100%), and Demon Killer.

Many months from now Cecil will also get ability enhancements which upgrade Focus (reducing the MP cost from 48 down to 24), Upgrade Holy Light (Starts as 20% DEF & 50% Light Resist and can be enhanced up to 20% DEF/SPR & 50% Light Resist & Cast ST ~1800 HP Heal w/ 1x Mod per Turn) and Saintly Wall (Starts as 75% Chance to block an Attack (Reduce 50% Phys./Mag. Damage) and can be enhanced up to 75% Chance to block an Attack (Reduce 50% Phys./Mag. Damage) & 30% Light Resist & Recover 5% MP per Turn.)

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): 95/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Excalibur - 9/10

Equipment - Greatsword - 120 ATK, Light Element

Yes, I'm rating this sword the same as Dark Knight Cecil's sword which has the same damage (but dark element) and Man-Eater. This sword is much easier to get multiples of for elemental chaining (and, if you think you might one day get Orlandeau it synergizes very well with him.)

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): SS Tier

Why would you want Cecil?: Cecil starts and remains a TOP TIER character for a very long time to come and comes with an amazing TM weapon. Who wouldn't want him?

Is he FUTURE-PROOF?: Yes. Cecil is still top tier in Japan.

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SHOULD YOU PULL?: Yes, absolutely. I would aim for a minimum of two Cecil (one to feed LB pots to and one to use.) Rosa is a very capable healer and her MP restore can be useful, but as a 4 star base it will likely be a bit of an investment to get her -- if you already have a Lenna or Garnet I would not recommend that investment with better healers on the horizon. Dark Knight Cecil is great, but as a 5 star base which is outclassed fairly early on he's not worth it to devote all of your resources into pulling for.

BONUS: OFF-BANNER 5 STAR UPGRADES

RYDIA

Rarity: 3* to 5*

Global Party Rating: 8/10

Rydia gets a 5 star upgrade and with that she gains Bioga (140% AOE Dark MAG 20% chance to poison), Thundaga (180% AOE Thunder MAG) and Meteor (250% AOE MAG Ignore -25% SPR)

For passives she also gains 10% MP, 20% MAG, and 30% Summon damage (bringing her total summon damage increase to 60%)

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): 80/100

How is her upgrade?: Meteor means Rydia can now do slightly more single target DMG (for a hefty 50 MP cost) and significantly more AOE damage than our current reigning mage Kefka but Meteor isn't elemental which means no elemental chains. Unfortunately Thundaga is her only elemental 180% spell and her limit burst (which partially fills the summon bar) is still very unexciting. She's worth leveling and worth using in a thunder element team or on AOE fights.

KAIN

Rarity: 3* to 5*

Global Party Rating: 8/10

Kain gets a 5 star upgrade and with that he gains Power Surge (Self 3 Turn 40% ATK), and Dragon Dive (1 Turn Jump 210% ST 1 Hit Physical Attack)

For passives he also gains 20% ATK, another 20% ATK with a lance equipped, and 120% Jump Damage (bringing his total jump damage bonus to 220%)

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): 85/100

How is his upgrade?: Kain gets a huge boost to his jump damage but jumps are still virtually impossible to chain with considering they take a full turn. Dragoon Dive 210% dmg combined with his 220% jump dmg passives make Kain do an average of 336% dmg per turn. It's true that Kain won't take any AOE dmg while in the air during his jump, but if the boss uses single target damage that attack is now more likely to hit one of your more vulnerable party members instead. 5 star Kain is a beast.