EPIC skills suck in EPIC proportions or is it me?

[perkyguy]

"A" rank magic adds 30 to magic. "A" rank magic/Incantation adds 12 magic. Logically we should assume that combined 2 skills of the epic ability should cover a singular "A" skill in stat budget, otherwise what is the point of epic skills?

12 magic skill indicates that the total skill point budget for EPIC skill is actually significantly lower than a regular skill, as 12 is 40% of 30, which means a normal "A" rank ability costs, say, 1500 to raise from E to A , whereas 4300 or so points for raising 2 skills and an epic will net us 80% value of what a skill slot is actually worth

The absolute minimum for that would be a 50/50 skill split, which would be idiotic, at best. To cover your losses on raising 2 skills to "A", then the epic skill itself, you should get at the very least 60/60 of each skill. Which would mean at least 18 magic. And even so Id still take the more solid boost to magic, instead of the epic skill

SO what gives with that?

[KFCrispy]

certainly some epic skills don't seem to be worth using, but it's all relative to the situation.
-the epic skill covers multiple skills (from just 2 to almost all skills), making the character more well-rounded.
-your character may only have 1 free skill slot and you want to boost multiple skills---then an Epic skill is the only way to go.
-your epic skill can reach S or SS while your normal skills only get to A or less.. well, the SS epic is almost the sure choice
-in order to boost a stat to its highest possible value, a character with 2 free skill slots needs to equip 2 skills that boost it... at least one of them will have to be an epic skill, so it's not pointless to build up and use the epic.
-while you're complaining about epic skills offering less than the original, they have different amounts based on the stat. For Defense, the epic is actually better or equal to the single skill in all grades. For Magic, the epic skill certainly has the lowest ratio (epic provides less than 50% value of the single Magic skill)... but for many others, the epic provides 50-80% of the single value. We also don't know the values of the %-chance type of skills.

[patapi]

In other words, they should have kept the more creative Skills system from Suikoden III and Tactics instead.

[Antimatzist]

In other words, they should have kept the more creative Skills system from Suikoden III and Tactics instead.

Haha, definitely. I was quite disappointed and hoped that more Skill-Slots became available later in the Story... Well, it's still better than Star Ocean 3's Skill System (especially in comparison to its predecessors)