Finally beat BNW in a manner that didn't involve grinding (what an idiot) or using CTB as a crutch. (Version 1.8.6 Pre beta)
Over the last month and a half, I've been homeless, sleeping in a tent (So THAT'S where they disappeared to in BNW!) with absolutely no source of entertainment except whatever text files I could fit into my cheap, serviceless phone. Among those things, was every bit of info I could get on BNW, which resulted in religiously studying the Printme, Unlock me, and Nakar's BNW character guide, which I've read too many times to count. It scares me how little I used to know about this mod until now, and would'nt be suprised if the Discord chat looked at me as a noob any time I tried to give an opinion (25 Ifrit Relm FTW herp derp)
I had abit of trouble in some boss fights, namely both Atma's, but ultimately, as long as you nab as much equipment/items as you can, and set yourself up right, winning isn't that hard. My MVP team ended up being Vig Terra, Stam Strago, Stam Relm, and Mostly Vig/Stam Shadow, who ended up getting REKT by Kaiser... until I put on Minerva/Flamguard, etc and he became a joke. (LOVE games that get this)
I tried out a few builds I never really considered (Again, because Nakar) such as dumping all of Setzer's EL's into Stamina, (Not that he recommended this, but hey) resulting in +900 RegenX's. Fortunately, neglecting Seraph levels didn't screw me too bad. Setzer wasn't frail by any stretch, but he was no longer tanky. I stuck him in the back, gave him Doom Darts/Fixed Dice (Man Eater/Dice until then) along with Daryl's Soul (Which I missed on EVERY playthrough save for this one) and Black Belt. The damage was more often than not, insane.
Another build I tried out was Vigor Sabin (20 Golem, and 3 - 5 Terrato) which was pretty entertaining to use. I had to pay attention to what enemies I targeted, but more often than not, Sabin did ludicrous damage and could still somewhat tank due to his awesome HP. Overall, I'm having trouble deciding between Vigor and Stamina for Sabin, but either way, 25 Terrato (is a magical thing) is next on the list.
Shadow was... insane. I pretty much never used him before, but pumping him with Vigor, sticking him in the front row, and using Kagenui and Orochi pretty much made him my MVP by the endgame, and being able to spam Smoke Bombs for Morphed/Vigor Terra was too awesome for words.
Speaking of which, Vigor Terra with Zantetsuken/Wing Edge, Genji Helm, Minerva, Power Glove, and Muscle Belt was an incredible combo..... at least until the end when keeping her alive was hard as hell, even though I gave her at LEAST 5 Pheonix levels to keep her sturdy. I would say that she's probably my MVP this playthrough up until Kefka's Tower.
All in all, I've never been more satisfied to play this game, and hope to provide indepth feedback the next time I play. With that being said, I will likely wait until another update or two has passed, because this game requires alot of micromanaging, especially toward the WoR, which has burned me out considerably.