>>3935166
speed * attack power = XP per hour

>>3935166
Most SMT games.
Your protagonist is usually the weak link for these games, with the game either literally, or effectively being over if they go down, and is the unchangeable anchor in a party of expendable demons.
Almost always, the best build is some kind of mage tank. Maximum durability to both physical and magical damage, magic to dispense critical buffs and tag weaknesses for turns, and unfettered access to your items at a times to shore up your actions. Your own damage will usually be unspectacular if you spec for it, no better than a normal demon at any rate, while your survival and bulk translates into momentum for the entire fight.
Offensive builds are better for your demons, who can afford to blow their entire load and die in three turns, because you'll just summon a replacement.

It's not always the case, sometimes the protagonist really does have some unique things to offer offensively, SMT3 Nocturne most notably where the World of Strength build is really good (late game at least), but, in general defensive builds win out for the protagonist.

>>3935192
In nocturne you just use sukukaja a few times and never get hit.

>>3935194
Yeah, but anyone can do that.
Demi-Fiend's unique niches are either midgame magic damage, or late game physical damage. Combined with Vit being pretty eh, and Agility and Luck being jokes, means those are kinda your options.

>>3935166
> It seems like in most RPGs speed and attack power are the most important.
Offense is the best defense. Crush your enemy before they get a chance. That’s the hallmark of a good rpg game

>>3935166
>best stats
You don't understand RPGs.

>>3935169
you get 0 XP if you're dead

I guess technically in FF2 if you level up shields, it raises whatever stat that helps you dodge. If you max that out early, which isn't hard and doesn't take long, enemies won't be able to hit you throughout the game.
I was thinking about this earlier when it came to classes and roles. Usually speed overrides everything else which is unfortunate. I do like in Pokemon since there's no "defend" option, high defense just allows you to tank a blow and set up something. Your defense is just there to help you blow them up after shrugging off their weak attack, unlike in other rpgs where the tank just stands there with a shield.

>>3935192
Eh maybe in the earlier games but the Demi Fiend and Nahobino and pretty much any modern Persona protag can basically be built into invincible monsters who are the strongest in the party by far. You can get an unlucky crit or weakness you aren't prepared for but that can happen to anyone in SMT.

>>3935203
Pretty much. Most RPG games are built with the idea that the bosses are HP sponges but the players offense output can be built to insane levels. Out tanking a boss is pretty much impossible when they have hundreds of thousands of HP while the player usually can't top 10,000 if that.

The initial releases of the Trails in the Sky trilogy on any mode but normal but that's mostly because the game was clearly not balanced for the higher difficulties because they were added later on. The players offense other than magic is pretty pathetic and the boss HP totals are crazy so you pretty much have to spam defensive spells to stay alive while your one offensive caster hits them with their strongest spell over and over.

This is not the case in the remake because it's balanced like the modern Trails games where you can do crazy damage and dodge tank.

Breath of Fire 3 with Last Resort.

>>3935203
>rpg game
>>3935240
>RPG games

Get out.

>>3935192
I take it you haven't played many SMT games then... even in the older titles, STR, AGI, and even LUK are vastly more useful. The MC and their companion also have access to weapons and armor, which usually match or excel what demons can do depending on where you are in the progression.

Been replaying Yggdra Union, and the defensive stat is important to survive when the enemy do their card effects, to the point you may want to open up with the tankier units to block the enemy cards.

>>3935166
Star Ocean 3
Romancing SaGa 2
Quest: Brian's Journey
half of Xenoblade X (Damage type resists are the best for Skell combat anyway. but Potential, and not def, is the best stat for on foot combat)

>>3935228
not if you are compulsive enough to save the game a lot

>>3935233
Pokemon is a bad example because if your pokemon is fast and strong enough to simply kill the enemy before it hits you too much, it makes shit like defense or fiddling with gimmick bullshit like status effects and shit redundant when you can just hit flamethrower a few times and maybe heal up once or twice if anything bad happens and win without having to think too much because the games were aimed towards literal toddlers

>>3935166
You don't need defense if you don't get hit.

>>3937117
>if you don't get hit.
Check out the big brain on Todd. Just don’t get hit! Ez

>>3937120
I mean OP's pic if Kingdom Hearts and in those games it is extremely rare to have an attack that is completely unavoidable.

>>3936617
Pokemon also have bulky walls that are the most annoying fucking things in the world to fight because they have so much hp and just keep healing.

File: burly-brawl-reloaded-neo-v-smith-gets-way-too-much-shit-v0-ufy04do597m71 (1).gif (1.9 MB)

1.9 MB GIF

>>3935166
I played both of the Owlcuck Pathfinder games as a full defense gigatank monk and it was very rewarding. The AI in those games lock on to the first target that enters their attack range, so every fight was just my character doing pic related while the rest of my party shot arrows/spells at the mob of enemies surrounding me.

>>3935166
Damage reduction and critical damage reduction are two of the best stats in Troubleshooter. Its combat formula is pretty degenerate, where damage increases and reductions are additive, so it's pretty easy to reach 100% reduced damage taken, but it's also pretty easy for enemies to crack it with something like 30% increased slashing damage which sums to 70% reduced damage taken.
Tank builds stack ridiculous amounts of damage reduction for that reason, and it's generally a pretty good idea to have a bunch of it anyway.

>>3935166

The shield and the staff are the best on KH I and II for sure. On CRPGs like BG or Pathfinder it´s slightly different, what you want is high AC which can be obtained several ways depending on your build. Some builds relay on combining the tankiest armor with the highest CON to withstand dmg, other builds relay on high DEX and spells that raise it.

Usually the disadvantage of defense attributes is that they only improve survivability while other attributes can have more than one function like positively affecting turn order, attk and ranged attack.