Quote Originally Posted by Red Fel View Post
Well, part of the problem is that there's no one best choice for anything. Even in a field with strong forerunners, like Cloud being a default go-to melee guy, there are distinguishing features for others. Realm synergy is a thing. Unique options (such as Lightning being able to Spellblade with a gun) are a thing. There are always other considerations, contexts in which the "best" isn't the best, or the "second best" becomes a clear leader.

The same guy who did the Know Your Records: White Magic thread also did one for Support and one for "Samuraitaliaters."

For Support, he compared Wakka, Fran, Irvine, Red XIII, Terra (she technically uses Support), Gordon (while he's not dead), and Tyro. His conclusions are varied (Wakka is best, unless Irvine has an awesome gun, or you need Support on the front lines). For a role like Support, as with White Magic, you really rely on context.

It's worth noting that, for Retaliatemans, he compared Cloud, Cyan, Sephiroth, and Tyro; big surprise, Cloud is practically tailor-made for the role, but a well-equipped Seph is a beast. Even in that narrow case, the best choice is dependent upon available options.

The point is that there's really no such thing as "most useful X," given how widely contexts can vary. Oh, there are worst choices for X (usually Tyro), and often middling choices make themselves known (e.g. Red XIII), but rarely are there clear leaders for a particular category that obviate all others.
Can't fault your logic, but the problem is that white mages are 75% unnecessary. If you're taking enough damage to need a healer, you're usually not going to be getting mastery on the stage anyway. They can do holy damage, but not a lot, and even the ones with less feeble physical options have to decide between being a good healer or a meh healer and a meh fighter. There are few instances where you need two healers, and many instances don't require any. So are you better off to have a few mid-level ones or one high level one?

I mean, fighters? I chew through them, particularly because of my stockpile of good swords. I've got three 65s (Cloud, Squall, and Tidus), and a number in the 50s and 60s. You can afford to spread the love because they already get such a large portion of the XP on average. Black mages? Who compares to Vivi (other than Terra)? But white mages are the hard ones: they aren't essential enough to get a good share of the XP, and they aren't distinct enough for one to stand out over the others. So who do you focus on? I suppose they're just all the same, to some degree. Maybe one day I'll get a relic to break the stalemate. Not holding my breath, though.